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

ok you got me there



kebbie wasnt all that..... maybe my bias was swayed somewhat by the fact that my mum named our cat 'Kebbie' when i was very young after he scored 7 trys in one game.... that cat died not that long ago aged 21.

the real kebbie probably didn't last that long.

and yes laughton signed internationals..... well apart from offiah.. who was signed from bedford rugby union if i remember correctly.

Henson was a player with great potential who has just been totally distracted by the media at the expense of being a top player. Probably no better if not worse than when he was 20 years old so a shame that he never really progressed.

Its not about raw talent, its about what you decide to do with it.

In days gone (80's) by he would have probably been snapped up by League because he would have certainly been after the dough.

Didn't he create the muppets?

im pretty sure they signed him from rosslyn park, but that could be my memory playing up too....not that its massively important either.

I'd like to see him have a go at RL, he can't be half as bad as some of the Australians kicking around in SL at present. If I was a club like Bradford, I'd try and get him involved. He'd do better at halfback than Mark Herbert, and they've a space or two at centre.

Henson couldn't settle at Saracens or Toulon, he would hate Bradford

He'd be trying to learn the game in a team that was struggling and as he would be a big earner he would get a lot of pressure and attention on him from their supporters. I would guess that the locals may be 'sceptical' of Henson to say the least. He seems to like the high life and celebrity status on the social scene, can you imagine him strutting round Bradford, they would see him as a prancing fake-tanned ponce and if he wasn't playing well he'd get told some home truths up there!

Bet he'd be out of Bradford faster than Matt Orford was.

all pre salary cap, Cant afford to sign someone and get them ready for the pace. Our game is far faster and they are taught to run the ball in differently. Name me a recent convert who has done well without getting hammered?

Gareth Thomas, aged 35.

Maybe so, or maybe that's what his life needs, a challenge of proving everybody wrong. I'd like to see him have a go, he's got decent hands, can kick a ball miles and looks a decent athlete to me. He clearly has attitude problems but he won't be in his own in RL there. With the right guidance, perhaps he could be a success.

+1