robjoenz posted:
There is no merit or courage in what he has done. The option he has chosen is not the difficult one.
It depends on how you look at it. What would you prefer... he came home when he did or he stayed over there adding zero value to the side and wasting a place that could be taken up by a player who has some enthusiasm and energy left in him. Has he not done the side a favour?
What I would prefer is he had the strength of character to accept his responsibilities. He is no different a position to all the other GB lads out there regarding how tired they must all be.
He has chosen to deal with this by throwing in the towel. It isn't remotely virtuous to have done what he has done. He is not prepared to push himself that extra mile for his country and team mates.
That is what Noble wanted him to do but despite Noble's best efforts to get him to stay and do this he adopted the selfish option and I simply do not believe he did what he did in the best interests of the team.
Stuart Fielden has not had a good tri-nations, understandably, should he really be out there with what has happened to him in the last month or two? Would we be better playing another prop who is able to focus his mind better on the task in hand?
That is down to the coach, not the player to decide. Noble wanted both players in the squad for Saturday and he only has one of them.
Long's team mate Pryce is on record as saying he misses his family but he is still there despite apparently not seeing eye to eye with Noble about what position he plays.
If Pryce thought he is not as effective on the wing as at stand off should he get on a plane home as well and woud he be doing team a favour?
What about Kieran Cunningham and Danny Buderus. Have they also let down their country by backing out of the tri-nations before it even began?
I don't know Buderous's circumstances but as for Cunningham, yes he definitely let his country down. Why? Because he is still (as is Long) probably our best player in that position yet chose to make himself unavailable despite being wanted by the coach. You may recall at the time Noble said he would have a word and try and persuade him to change his mind. Don't know if he did have a word but as far as I am concerned Cunningham is another player who let his country down.
He is another player who can never be considered a great player because of a poor international record.
Whether it is a coincidence he is a team mate of Longs and they both have a poor attitude to international RL is perhaps an interesting question!
Both could have played had they not put something else first.
Wasn't it a simple premature retirement from international RL in Cunninghams case?
Maybe Sean Long is a coward, maybe he doesn't care about anyone else and has only come home because he's thrown a paddy but I just can't understand it. I think the easier option would have been to just stay another week and come back taking praise for his man of the match performance against the Aussies.
I have a problem with this idea that he chose one
option over another because as far as I am concerned he had no options.
I don't have an option in my job to come home if I am tired when overseas. I was in Denmark last week and it never entered my head to leave on Thursday despite the fact it was inconvenient domestically that I was there Friday.
I understand what is expected of me when I go away on business and most of the time I don't actually like the tedium business travel and work abroad involves but I do understand what my responsibilities are.
Long is IMO clueless as to his responsibilities
Dave
