Released by Toulon.

Would be a good capture for Crusaders if they could tempt him over. Would certainly increase the interest in Wrexham you would think..

Every tanning salon in North Wales would be celebrating if that were to happen. He's never looked much cop to me but might be worth a shout for them even if it just drags in some revenue.

Him coupled with Thomas (if you excuse the expression) would raise their profile
Trouble is, he's got more baggage than Terminal 5 @ Heathrow

Woman in a man's body.

He's too religious, always in & out of Church.

he would get SMASHED

I disagree, not a massive union fan, but this lad can hit hard, run hard and has decent hands. I think he could do a decent job. Lifestyle seems to be a bit of an issue from what you read in the press though.

He looks like he's been dipped in tea.

The result of drunken shenanigans between David Dickinson and Sue Barker

I bet you Gavin Henson would not bring in more than he costs.

He's just a media circus. Gareth Thomas was a good signing because he was a good reliable pro who you just knew would fit in and do the business...Henson is one of those like Willie Mason, you can sign him if you want headlines but you know the story will end badly.

IMO he is a long way behind Allan Bateman.

Different game, look at how Thomas's first 2 tackles went. He would get hammered.

Mason is the poor man's Henson. At least Henson can kick and has some pace. I wonder what the odds are of Henson and Mason playing together next season in SL for Crusaders are.
They are both indisciplined and disruptive. Henson has been trouble whereever he goes, whilst his replacement at Toulon is much worse.

He and Thomas cannot be compared. Henson is a machine in defence, he can really smash people.

Don't forget his attack. I've been reliably informed he can literally dance around defences.

RL is such a minority sport that imo the only bad press that could ever exist for RL is news pertaining to drug cheats, or to the RFL/Clubs making an ass of the rules of our own game ie Mason saga. That whole situation was handled so poorly by all concerned from start to finish and we again appear an amateurish laughing stock from the outside-in. It simply would not have been allowed to happen in other pro sports.
There are probably other areas like low crowds which tarnish our game, but I cannot see how signing someone like Gavin Henson (with all his baggage) wouldn't increase interest, especially for the Crusaders.

I love how these league fans live in a dream world that being hit by a professional RL player is something different to being hit by a professional RU player.

Scott Gibbs, Allan Bateman, Jonathan Davies were all playing AMATEUR rugby union and they came to RL with big targets on their heads and everybody wanting to smash them, they seemed to survive alright.

No arguement there Sal, Bateman was a quality centre in both codes. Henson hasn't looked anything special in a Wales shirt and hasn't figured when he has been fit. If he did join the the Cru Cru Crusaders the media attention may draw in a bigger crowd (of mainly young females) but a week to week contract is all I'd offer him. Crus fans make think otherwise.

Without the usual pee taking what is actually wrong with Henson ?

My 5 pennys worth:

I think he's lazy, in that i don't mean like me, a fat useless backinjured PC user.
I mean mentally, i don't think he's set out for a pro sportsmans life of discipline.

If he came to RL he'd do a job, i'm sure of it but whoever coached him would be pulling his teeth out and he'd have to be given special treatment which i think could upset the unity of any team he went to.

I may be wrong but that's just my opinion.

never make the grade is dummy will come out

I think you're right. IMO the celebrity just distracted him. When he came on the scene, around the same time Sonny Bill did in RL, he was like the RU equivalent of Sonny Bill, an absolute tank, great in defence, kicked goals. Then he started seeing Charlotte Church and became effectively the Welsh Beckham. Difference with Beckham was, although Beckham has lived his life in a media circus, he's always knuckled down in every team he's played for and seems to be popular with all his old teammates and managers, they all say he's the model pro, great attitude at training etc, he always put football first. Henson from the moment he became a celebrity started alienating people, first he released a book after Wales won the Grand Slam where he annoyed his teammates in the Wales side by mouthing off about them, since then he's always been injured and had about one good year but still keeps his profile high, then he went to Toulon and had a big bust up with his teammates then slagging off Jonny Wilkinson.

If he was consistently playing well he could just about get away with it but he's only really had two patches of class form in his career and the rest of the time has been injured.

Henson for me is still trading on one tackle and one kick. If he was an RL player we would still be referring to him as 'having potential' even though he's in his mid 20's. Now if we were talking about Brian O'Driscoll, thats another matter - what an RL player he would have been.

davies came into the widnes setup as an 8 stone weakling that had to play 2/3 months reserve rugby on a high calorie diet before he could cut it in the first team.. he almost got snapped in half on his debut against salford.

obviously union has moved on alot since then and players are professional and alot fitter... but davies was nowhere near ready for league when widnes signed him.

thats like Appo when he came to Warrington

although he had a particularly high calorie diet

very high

when i was young i used to have to stay at my grandads every friday... he used to play for widnes... he loved rugby league... he used to take to to watch the widnes reserves every friday when davies signed.... at first he looked like a small child being knocked around.... apart from when he kicked the ball out of his hands... i was always amazed how far he could kick it....

about a month after they bought him he was ripping reserve rugby to shreds... almost scoring at will off that sidestep.

a few months later he was probably the best back in the league..... unplayable at times.

douge laughton sure knew a great player when he saw one.... offiah, davies, devereux, moriarty, kebbie.... all taken from union.... all excellent players.

Brimah Kebbie.....?

surely there is the sound of a barrel being scraped

I think i'll be lumping him in Dougie Laughtons list of failures which i reckon is a bit bigger than his list of successes

his rugby union buys with the exception of Offiah, were all Welsh Union Internationals werent they? had he signed Kevin Ellis, a virtual unknown (who was picked in the GB squad after 10 games of Rugby League) Alan Bateman,and Rowland Phillips I'd agree he had the eye for talent?

he just had a big cheque book burning a hole in his pocket, and lived off his "spotting" of Offiah forever more