Sam Tomkins is an outstanding individual talent, arguably one of the best broken field players with ball in hand in SL.

He's benefitted from playing in a successful side with good players around him, much as the likes of Danny McGuire and Leon Pryce have done during their careers for example.

The next step for Tomkins is to harness that individual ability into a team structure at international level, whether it's from full back or in the halves. Still a bit too much headless chicken and not enough vision from him at times, but he's the best option England have in either position IMO.

Really?

I didn't see any attempt to rebut either of those statements, just a foaming at the mouth rant about the Wigan club and its fans.

Looks very much from where I'm sitting like a Leeds fan taking offence at negative comments about a Leeds player and trying to turn the argument into an inter-club one rather than one about what Ryan Hall did and didn't do.

Eddie and Steve? We're talking Tomkins and Wigan, not Wellens and Saints.
Which are the great players in Wigan that are making him look good, rather than been made to look good by Tomkins?

Didn't realise you were a Wigan season ticket holder, by the way

from where im sitting i can tell you it wasnt and as seen as i know what i ment you will have to take my word for it. unless you know my own thoughts better than me.

So what specifically did you say about Hall's performances, you might have to point it out to me in detail.

You know, before you started going off on one about Wigan fans...

i made clear my thoughts in my second post. your right i have had a bit of a rant about some of wigans fans who are frankly delusional after their recent success. i wasnt defending hall at all really, what i dont understand is how he could be singled out or laughed at when you look at the whole squad wigan players included. hall been accused of been error prone or lazy didnt sit well with me in the context of the whole tour as he didnt get chance to prove himself against the best teams. especially when in my opinioin we gifted the game to australia with school boy errors many of them in our own 20 which is unforgivable. how anyone can give hall stick after that debarcle is beyond me. if i came across as defencive thats maybe why.

Right....so it's not an opinion based on a whole season as you earlier suggested.
I can understand Eddie and Steve (and any Sky studio guest) praising Tomkins, after all, he is very good.

Why don't you think Tomkins would look good in other club sides?

His numbers for scoring, assists, ground gained, tackles and lack of missed tackles are all very good. It's when you watch him live that you really realise how good he is. In the Grand Final for example, every single time he took a pass coming around the back of a dummy runner, his pace and ability to go outside or cut back, or pass either outside or inside, put complete panic into the Saints defence.



P.S. He's a fullback, not a stand-off nowadays. Although in the modern game, the ball playing fullback, featuring as an extra standoff, has largely replaced the ball playing loose forward, as teams put another runner in the loose forward position. Wigan are a little unusual though (off the top of my head, we're the only other team that play like this) in playing halves at 1, 6, 7, 9 and 13.

When did I suggest anything different to my opinion based on a whole season? My opinion is based on the whole season, and his international performances cemented my opinion.

I don't think he would look good because of the reasons stated on my numerous posts on this topic.

Trying to demean my posts by suggesting he is a full-back not a stand-off when he played both over the season (with a number 6 jersey, and internationally is a poor attempt to win an argument.

You haven't listed the qualities of a good stand-off yet, and seen as you play halves at 1, 6, 7, 9 and 13, it is irrelevant whether he is playing stand-off or fullback. List them and tick them, how many do you get. Squirming around on the floor crying wolf isn't a quality either.

I think Tomkins is a good player, but he is over-rated. Not in the sense that he doesnt have the ability, in the sense that a lot of people rave about him as the complete package when he hasnt yet fulfilled his potential.

His decision making at times can be appalling, his attitude worse. When in a 'hole' rather than dig in as part of the team he has a tendency to force it at completely the wrong time. I think as well he needs to up his kicking game (both long and short) and his passing/organisation skills if he is to make even a decent career at stand-off, or his positioning, and defensive skills, as well as the when is the right time to show his attacking skills if he is to make a fullback.

I think that is the problem, people talk about Tomkins as if he has already made it world class, imo i dont think he is close, all he has done is show he has the potential to be world class (which is no mean feat).

I would also say that if he does it will be at fullback, i dont think he would make even Mcguire's level at S-O

You said you only saw when he played on Sky. What proportion of the games was that?
I thought it a bit odd you stuck to SO, when he played 2.3 of the 3 internationals at fullback. Maybe you didn't watch all the internationals either?

Maybe you see different requirements of a stand off and fullback to me. In which case me saying what he's good at would be largely irrelevant. How about you say what the qualities are and why you think he doesn't have them, and I'll tell you why you're wrong After all, I'm not the one claiming a current 21 year old England international, 2009 rookie of the year, two time young player of the year winner, 2009 Dream Team member, isn't international quality and wouldn't look good in anothe rteam.

Can you try to be a bit more descriptive and objective and precise than your criticisms so far of "questionable decision making" (what decisions? When?) and "his attitude is out of place on a rugby pitch" (WTF?!) and the "Give him any other jersey and he would look abject at best" (Why? Which jerseys? Thought he looked pretty good when getting a MOM award for England in October 2009 TBH)

Tomkins imho would be a regular starter at any sl or nrl club. If not one of the first names on the team sheet despite having a poor tour.

That's just my opinion

He's a very good prospect, but he is definitely not the finished article. Its taken McGuire a long time to start to show signs that he can become a very good orthodox stand off without blunting the rest of his game (he still has a way to go with some basics such as kicking though). Tomkins will probably take a long time as well, if he ever does. The sad thing is if he stays in SL he won't get quickly pushed to make the improvements in his game that are clearly required. Why would he need to? GF winner, awards coming out of his ears.