We do appreciate it and I havent seen any "digs" from Saints fans anywhere. But this is sport and you have to move forward not backwards. He isnt the player he was but I still think he has another season in him at Saints. He is one of the best organisers I have seen in SL and that is something you cant teach a young kid, it comes through experience. Its a huge part of his game that we are going to miss when hes gone.

We were singing his praises, thinking he was fantastic and saying so freely. We all recognise, though, that he's at the end of his career now and the future of the club has to come first. He knows this too and I'm hoping he will bow out gracefully, as Cunningham is doing.

Long will always be remembered both for his skill as a player and his, er, unique character! He's a real showman and that has saved us many a loss over the 12 years he's been with us, especially against Wire! I'm sure the first thing Saints will do once he has gone is lose to Wire at KR!

This is exactly my take on it - great player on the pitch, knob-ed off it.

Long is one of those players who is loved by his own fans, hated by everyone else. If he hadn't have played a part for Saints, winning what he has, we would hate his guts like everyone else.

His charisma is a big part of his game, and he is one of the last true characters we have left in the game.

top post and i agree. the fact he set up a betting account to bet against his own team was, in my opinion, a disgrace and he should have got sine die.
i would have said this had it been a leeds player,so it's not a rabid anti saints rant

And if he gets to France, he'll find the letters P M U very useful

There were a coach load of Saints fans that day who did the same. He was a grade a burk, but he just used what he knew to make a quick buck. It's a prime example, as I have pointed out before, of rl players being thick as pig s*** and not quite grasping the effect of their actions.

Woah Woah Woah, take your knickers off and untwist them!

He won the man of the match award in the last round of the cup, as i've mentioned elsewhere his kicking game has been superb this year for you! He guides your pack round well and his defence is pretty much spot on!

As for his inability to kick goals, if he is your number 1 kicker, should you not be questioning the rest of the squads' lack of ability, rather than his??

What we actually do is question the persistent lack of action by either Anderson or Potter to address the problem by giving our other kickers opportunity to kick (which only amount to Eastmond and Wheeler to be fair, though Wheeler has been playing a regular spot lately so he should have had more chance to kick). I don't know whether Long is making life difficult or the coach is ignoring the problem, but it's frustrating to fans who get fed up with his kicking issues.

I thought it was well known that he doesn't like kicking, but does it as no-one else wants to

Exactly.

That's been the line but who knows?

I don't think it's so much that he doesn't like it, but since he had his knee/ankle injury in 2005... (? wow my memory is bad), he's never been the same. Plus he didn't kick alot for the best part of 2 years with Lyon over here.

what will Long be remembered for?

On or Off the field antics?

Saints fans a bit of both. Other fans off field.

Saints fans - on field
Everyone else - off field (specifically betting and walking out down under)

For me, Long is one of the few real characters of rugby league. He's a showman and I'll miss his presence (and his hair!) in our team. He's also been a superb player whose loss Wigan must have been regretting for the last 12 years. What I love about him most is his audacity. That drop goal to finish the Wire match last season just sums him up. He has been able to pull out some amazing stuff for us as a player and he will be missed, no doubt about it.

When a player sticks around as long as he has with all his skills and foibles it is relatively easy to forgive his, er, mistakes shall we say. That is who he is and you have to take him as a total package, so to speak, because his best has been so much better than anyone else's in his position for a long time IMO.

However, while he can still pull the great stuff out of the bag, the not-so-great stuff is getting worse and more frequent, if this season is anything to go by, and of course his age is telling in terms of pace even though he still works damned hard (as does Cunningham). His best years are behind him now but I'm happy for him to have one more year. He's definitely got one more year in him.

I take it that Long has put his plans to play in the NRL on hold?

I think you're doing supporters ofother clubs a discredit there, for me he is one of the best scrum halfs to have played in SuperLeague, and should be remembered as such, i remember his Lance Todd awards much more than his betting misdemenour and i'd forgotten about his leaving the GB squad!

Thats why you are a fan, think you can do better? pull on a pair of boots and prove it!

HTH

All world class players come to the stage of their careers when it is time to call it a day,i personally believe that longy can play for another 2 seasons,time will tell,but people laughing at him when the club only offers him a one year deal ffs? havnt the rhinos just resigned senior on a one year deal?

Do you have a link to Senior moaning to the press about his new contract?

I think that's a bit of a silly comment, to be honest. He's a well paid professional rugby league player and one aspect of his job is to convert any tries we happen to score. At one stage in the season he had only kicked two from eleven attempts. That's terrible. He's now pretty much back to where he has been for a couple of years: no-one knows which boots he has on and when. He can miss a relatively simple kick then kick a blinder from the touchline (as he did at Catalans). I said we fans find it frustrating, not that he should be hung, drawn and quartered for it. But this season his lack of consistency has been felt particularly strongly as our matches have generally been very close run things.

have u seen gary schofields page in the sunday star..says longy would be a good signing for the rhino's..

I think you should just stop there...

I'll remember him more for being a great player than being a prat. The number of times I've seen him run riot and tear teams to shreds.

He's also one of the characters in the game, and will be missed for that too.

I still don't like him though. But you have to respect his ability and achievments