Listen to yourself. "I'm sure they'll both improve the more match experience they have". A club with serious title aspirations should not be in a position where it's relying on one of its rookies to "work out" in a starting centre slot. ESPECIALLY when one of those rookies is only just getting over a run of bad knocks (Wheeler) and the other is more of a second row anyway. And to top things off, the other starting centre is 33 YEARS OLD. With Soliola gone Saints are pretty much down to the bare bones at centre. Perhaps you need your eyes tested?

Or which knee by the sounds of things. Well, thankfully, it isn't you making the decisions on player fitness, as you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

Major knee surgery DOES NOT necessarily mean you are more likely to suffer a knee injury. For example, a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, when repaired by a competent surgeon, should be stronger than it was before the accident. There may be some fractional loss of lateral flexibility, but nothing that has worried the likes of Tommy Martyn or Alan Shearer before. Paul Gascoigne underwent the same operation after his infamous FA Cup Final exit against Forest in 1991 and his form went downhill thereafter. But at that time there had only been a handful of cruciate ligament replacements done in the world and the procedure was still under refinement (prior to the nineties a torn ACL meant the end of your career). Also, Gazza didn't help himself by spending his convalescence in the company of Danny Baker, Jimmy Five Bellies and a tanker of Newcastle Brown ale - instead of at home, looking after himself, eating the right foods etc.



Before Soliola signed for Saints he would have undergone a rigorous medical and the club would also have spoken to his surgeon in Australia. If there was any serious possibility of his knee failing under normal load we would not have signed him. Not after the fiasco of a certain antipodean scrum half who was signed by Hanley to replace Tommy Martyn. I say "normal load" because it's important to remember that even joints that have been made stronger (ACL mentioned above) will ultimately fail if they are put under too great a load. ATEOTD, it's all down to luck - being in the wrong place at the wrong time.



The news that Soliola has ruptured his Patella ligament is a worry, though. As mentioned earlier, these ligaments have a tendency to fail repeatedly - in the worst case scenario.

Tommy Martyn was the guest speaker at our rugby do at the end of last season. Ian pickavance, who nephew plays with me, was also there and the four of us were discussing the operation Matt (Picky's nephew) had just had to repair a torn ACL. Both Tommy and Picky had had a similar injury and have foot long scars up their legs were they were sliced open. Matt literally has a one inch scar on one side of his knee and a 1/4 snick on the other where the camera went in. He was back at work on a building site a couple of weeks after getting out of hospital.

And, since you are an expert, what exactly constitutes 'any serious possibility'? And how would you know that that is the criteria Saints used?





You're a doctor yourself then?

Don't be soft. We have enjoyed one of the best fullbacks in the modern game. Once upon a time, he was a rookie who filled in for injury in a crucial position. Would you have denied Wello his fullback spot then, because he was a rookie and a halfback a therefore a risk at fullback? We have to take the risk on our young players eventually and now is as good a time as any.

double post

So risks are okay with youngsters but not with signings?

how many youngsters do you honestly think you can use in a super league side.the road most people on here keep saying bring on the youngsters, its like men against boys. is this why the youngsters keep picking up injuries.

It greatly depends on the extent of the damage and exactly where the damage is. Sometimes keyhole surgery is not possible

We're talking different kinds of risk. I didn't bring up the youngsters risk; I just responded to the post bringing it up.



Soliola is one kind of risk: he has a history of knee injuries and so bringing him over was a gamble. How much of one only Saints will know.



Wheeler, Dean, Lomax et al is another kind of risk: they have great potential but are they good enough to maintain at first grade level?



Soliola now has another knee injury. For this season anyway, the risk has not paid off.



Wheeler, Dean, Lomax et al are as yet unknown. They all performed admirably last season when called upon to plug gaps created by injury but none of them has yet had the chance to play a full season. We're taking a risk on Kyle (same cohort as Gary) and IMO we should take a risk on the rest. We will find out then whether they are up to Superleague standard or not over a period of one season, which I think is a fair amount of time to gauge whether they can progress at this level.

With a 3 year contract, it's unfair to class Soliola as a risk at this stage. Sure he'll miss this season, but he may be fantastic for the next two and remain injury free.



Let's see what happens.