Will be interesting this one..

As will the Briscoe...Tansey debate

You're quite correct, not keen on him playing for your lot as I think it's a master stroke for you, as is well documented you've missed someone to push you around the park for a long, long time.

Rovers fans would do well to remember Long showing his class in more ways than one in the 2005 CC semi final, at about 40-nil down a section of the Rovers crowd were singing an ironic "can we play you every week" chant, Long looked up to the Lawrence Batley (as it was then) stand, gave us a wink and applauded us. He gets this game, it's culture, meaning and resonance to the fans.

And he will only get better

I am a big admirer of Brisc, however I think Tansey not only offers the same in defence he offers more in offence from what I have seen so far, will be very interesting one this, well maybe not for Bertie

Tansey has the problem of being scared to go up for the high ball, one of the main jobs of a fb.

Can't say I noticed that last week. Or any other time I've seen him play for that matter.

Possibly you're confusing him with somebody else.

Why do you assume she meant 'now'?

Amusing the number of Rovers fans writing Tansey off when they've barely seen him play for us. Even more amusing the number who think they can second-guess the England selection process given how random that has been over the years.

TV can be confusing

Some do it purely for the wind up factor, others because they know FA about RL. No-one can dispute Longs quality (unless they are thick) and on the face of it, your pack should be the platform for him to shine. Dobson outshone him last season and was certainly in the top 3 of scrum halves, but I would imagine Long will be totally different this season and see it as a fresh challenge. Dobson still has years ahead of him to progress, he has been outstanding for us, Wigan and Cats during his SL career, he seems more suited to British RL than NRL.

I don't worry too much about our pack v your pack as we use them to play to our advantage, I doubt Morgan will be telling them to mix it up the middle with your pack as we will get battered, I suspect we will see much more interesting derby games this season.

Tansey is clearly a good player, but some of your lot on here are already saying he is better than Briscoe (as they did with all the players who played FB since he left you), but I know which players of Rovers and Hull I prefer and Briscoe wins that one for me.

FWIW, I have been saying that I think Hull (injuries aside) will be a force this season and would be majorly suprised if they don't make the top 6 (or higher). I would expect us to be in the mix for a top 6, but would be pleasantly suprised if we got higher than 2009.

Thats as sensible as you are going to get from me, can I get back to being a biased b'stard now.

I'm undecided at the moment. I think Tansey has the [ipotential[/i to be better than Briscoe, in attack at least. He still has to [ifulfil[/i that potential though, and while the early signs are encouraging I've seen too many players fail to do that over the years to be counting any chickens.