KEY POINTS:
Sean Long will probably not tour with the Great Britain rugby league team again, saying homesickness and fatigue was behind his decision to quit the Tri-Nations series.
Britain's Tri-Nations hopes suffered a blow on Monday when a weary Long, 30, flew home, and the star of the upset
win over the Kangaroos revealed he "just couldn't carry on".
Long was man of the match when Brian Noble's men beat Australia in their second match, but was not at his best in Britain's loss to New Zealand last week.
Since arriving home, he has insisted he has "no regrets" about his controversial decision.
Long said last night: "I definitely won't tour again. It's really hard to play that many games on the bounce.
"I'm not ruling it out [playing for GB again]. I want to do my best at St Helens."
He believes he made the right choice to return home. "I want Great Britain to win this competition and that's one of the reasons I left."
Long said he was "pretty upset" by initial claims - including allegations of drinking, gambling and falling out with Noble - over why he had left the tour.
"I know I'm a bit thick, but I'm not that thick," added Long, who was banned from the game for three months in 2004 for betting on his own side to lose when injuries forced St Helens to field a weakened team against Bradford. They duly lost 54-8.
"I think it was a bit out of order, that's water under the bridge. I've played a lot of rugby since then and I've served my time for that.
"I had a drink on Sunday but there was no booze ban and we never got into trouble. That got blown out of proportion.
"I was not arguing with Nobby [Noble], the staff were unbelievable. It was not because of that. [There were] a number of things, to be honest. I was missing my family... it's been a long season at St Helens and I just felt like I was mentally and physically gone.
"It came to a head when I just couldn't carry on. I couldn't get myself up for the next game. I didn't just decide on the spur of the moment - I'd been thinking about it for about 10 days."
Meanwhile, last night's test match against Australia may have been the last for Keith Senior, the longest-serving player in Great Britain's Gillette Tri-Nations squad.
The Leeds Rhinos centre made a try-scoring debut in the 72-4 victory over Fiji in 1996 alongside Adrian Morley, the only other current Test player on that Pacific Islands tour.
"I've had a good run but age is catching up with me," said the 29-year-old, "so I will see how I feel when I'm back at Leeds next season."
Senior, who has scored nine Test tries, and has played the last 13 matches for Great Britain, appeared to be in danger of losing his place in the squad before the tour, with Hull centre Kirk Yeaman staking a claim for a Test debut after scoring 23 tries this season.
However Senior's polished performance meant it was Warrington's Martin Gleeson who was dropped after the opening defeat by New Zealand in Christchurch with Yeaman playing the last two matches.