Personally for me I would have Tomkins at HB and Zak at FB. It's more to do with I think we will get a better performance from Sam at HB than we would Zak in the centre if that makes sense.

I agree Sam is a fantastic talent as is Zak. Equally as fans blinkered about sam. There are the same number being blinkered about Zak

Here's a snip from a post I put on a previous Hardaker/Tomkins debate towards the end of the NRL regular season... Think Tomkins played 1 more game after these stats, and managed to eventually fall over the line for a try....




How anyone can seriously justify picking Tomkins at fullback over Hardaker is unbelievable.... Tomkins either moves to the halves or doesn't get a game for me - the 2013 Tomkins no longer exists, and I'd argue that the 2014 version wasn't much better than today's..... A quoted above - Hardaker by plenty (though I'm happy to see him sit out the tournament and rest up for what will be a huge challenge at club level in 2016).

Whilst his open field running was (2013) excellent, Tomkins defence is poor and he can't catch. 1 out of 3 key attributes makes him a poor fullback in comparison to Hardaker. Add to the fact that, for whatever reason, be it injury, home sickness or whatever else, he hasn't been the player he was for 2015.

Of course, he's the ideal first choice England full back!

Seriously though, if, as has been suggested by ToffeeLady his key skills are running and passing, shouldn't Tomkins be playing at 6, or maybe even centre, rather than suggesting ZH is played there?

I reckon McNamara will pick him but it should be Zak at 1, Widdop at 6 and Gale at 7. That's not just on form but Ratboy looks like a shell of the player that tore up Super League and could do with a season where he's the main man at Wigan before a recall.

Hardaker should be fullback. Tomkins strengths can be utilised in the halves. If you have a defensivley weak full back it will be exposed at that level. Hardaker is one of the best defensive fullbacks around, he saves tries he has no right to, but he also offers good attacking threat.

The team will be better with hardaker at fullback and tomkins in the halves.

He's going to pick Zak at centre. If Tomkins was an option for the halves he wouldn't have picked 4 options there.

At the moment Tomkins really shouldn't be in.

He's bottled it.

He doesn't have the bottle to leave one of them out.

If you aren't going to play Hardaker at fullback don't play him. But he's going to shoehorn him into the team probably at centre because he can't leave the MoS out, and obviously you can't leave tomkins out (he's an automatic selection, no matter what his form is like), or play him anywhere but fullback because that's how we've been building the last couple of years.

If he's going to pick Tomkins at fullback, he should leave hardaker out and not select him. (talking likely starting 13 here)

Right yes, because I'm a girl my opinion on a player can't possibly be to do with anything other than how attractive they are. Idiot.

I take people's point about his 2015 compared to Hardaker's my point is that the rest of his side weren't too great either, and he's been injured. Both have contributed to his form. Hardaker on the other hand has been fit and played in the top side in SL. His 2014 form was good. He has earned the right in the past to be a core player int he England side.

I don't know why people are getting annoyed tbh, I've said they should both be in the side, the aussies don't having this whinging over Slater and Inglis.
The fact some of you are still calling him 'ratboy' is telling. I personally really dislike Hardaker but I'm not blinkered enough to suggest that he shouldn't be in the england side.

Hardaker should play fullback because he's not really effective elsewhere, Tomkins would be very effective at 6 imo.

Sorry I take it back, it's not like you were going completely over the top in your praise of him was it, making multiple posts and getting to the point where you were almost drooling down the internet.
To be fair though i'd have said the same if you'd have been a bloke as the men of Wigan seem to have the same problem when it comes to Sam Tomkins.

I made multiple posts as it was part of a conversation. I wasn't going completely over the top in my praise of him at all, I'm not really sure how you've gathered that other than perhaps expecting me to say 'He's awful, never been a good player, never will be and Hardaker is literally the best fullback in the history of the game'. There's plenty I could have said to heap praise on him but I haven't.

I was making a point about him not being as bad in NRL as others have suggested and saying he, alongside Hardaker, should still be in the England side. Excuse me for thinking people could have an even handed conversation about two good English players and excuse Wigan fans for admiring one of their great players.

Incidentally if all I am good for is assessing the attractiveness of a player then Hardaker does come in above Tomkins based on this seasons beard form.

Anyone who thinks Tomkins right now is a better full back than Hardaker hasn't watched him play this year. He really, desperately needs to be moved into the halfs where his undoubted strengths can be best used.

The points I made earlier still stand tho.

Hardaker has earned the FB spot. If ST gets put at 6 (which I think we should with widdop at 7 ) it's more an acknowledgement of what he has done in the past and what we hope he can recreate in the future.
Putting ST at FB would and squeezing Zak at centre would be idiotic . He's won multiple trophies and accolades at FB and has good form .

That said Mcbanana has selected a very unbalanced team. The loss of G Burgess, S Ward and Reed to injury is very unfortunate but we now have a squad with too many backrowers and half backs but not enough props or centres.
Cuthbertson and Shenton are unlucky not to get a call up at all,even for the squad.

It's a shame NZ have so many missing as I'd of liked for us to start building and planning for the next world cup/ ashes etc now .
The younger players like Zak, Watkins,Williams ,Ward, etc etc are the ones who we should be getting as much international experience as possible now and having a long term plan for 1/6/7/9/13 should start now

Unfortunately the only way i feel we will see Tomkins in the halves for England is if Wigan decide to use him there which is highly unlikely anytime soon.

As Flexwheeler says, McNamara hasn't got the bottle to make the big decision here and will play Hardaker out of position at centre where he isn't even half as effective.

we can't always be planning for the future. We don't play enough internationals to do that. The aim should be firstly to win this series, with any experience gained by younger players a bonus. This series needs to be promoted and enjoyed in its own right.

Hardaker is a better FB than Ratboy.
Widdop is a better 6 than Ratboy.

However, this doesn't matter when you have a clueless, bottleless coach