I don't recall whether McDermott really hacked it as an international player so he may well fancy doing it as coach.

Wouldn't be averse to giving Shaun Wane a crack.

He also might be ok as England's coach.

Welcome to Southstander, home of hyperbole.

Last appearance for the Warriors, 30 August 2015.

Six months, divided by three.

I'd say it's more like 18 months - sure he might have taken to the field more recently, but I'd hardly call his performances 'playing'...

Tomkins could have scored a hat-trick in all three Tests, and there would still be Leeds fans slagging him off because he once flicked them the Vs at Wembley. Part of the reason the international game will never rise above the parochial nonsense of small-time club rugby.

Whoops mea culpa, you're correct & as a result despite not having played for 9 weeks (not 6 Months) you'd still prefer to see him picked ahead of Hardaker?
Tomkins last game was on 30th August when he had to leave the field due to a recurrence of an injury which the Warriors match report stated "had sidelined him for most of the season".
Compare that to Hardaker whose last game was the Grand Final on 10th October & who is fully fit.

Nope, never said I did.

Had Tomkins been fit though, he was certainly worth his place in the squad despite not having had a game in 9 weeks. That's not many more than some of those players from outside the top 4 in SL.

If he gets fit again for next season reckon his talent will come to the fore, however will be relieved if he becomes worst signing in wigan's history never mind nrl!

He will have a good season i reckon, Don't think he will be quite the player he was before he left, but will do enough to put this last year behind him. Certainly going to be interesting viewing.

It will be interesting. Other than his talent think his life will be made much easier playing behind a mainly young high quality side at Wigan. If life gets tricky at full back he may even move into halves with Williams and then can be hidden more easily in defence as we do with our numbers 6 and 7.

By the same token I never said that Tomkins wasn't worth his place in the squad. I merely disputed his "rumoured" inclusion at full back ahead of Hardaker.
One factor in Tomkins favour that has not been raised is the fact that he was the incumbent full back & has Hardaker done enough to oust him from that position.
I'd say yes, based on my view of him as a better defensive FB than Tomkins.
I think that Hardaker's past history with McNamara may have played a part in all this.
But all of the above is pure speculation.

McNamara did a decent job during the WC. He deserves some credit for realising Kevin Sinfield had to play 6. His other selections were difficult to argue with but to balance that they were pretty obvious ones. His rather bad tempered and bizarre press conference was an exception.
But now he has some choices to make, we have some options in the forwards and backs and we have several decent halves to look at. How he has chosen his squad and who he puts on the field will be how he is initially judged. I don't think as a coach of our international team that plays 2-3 times a year he can possibly build a style of play or have a huge impact on skill levels or tactics. The players will have to bring that. What he had to do is blend the team properly and get them mentally in the right place.
We don't know for sure he was going to pick Tomkins over Hardaker at 1. I'm sure the Kiwis would have much prefered Tomkins there, and would have targeted him relentlessly. If McNamara had been making noises that he was going to have Tomkins at 1 then out trots Hardaker, a full back who is strong defensively, and big enough to run the ball back into Kiwi forwards all day then he may have got one over on the tourists. But we'll never know now.
Overall though the squad selection looks badly judged. What he puts out on the field will be interesting. If he gets it badly wrong then he's got to be judged on that.

Abso-bloody-exactly. All you get is club v club rivalries popping up. I remember at Wembley when Hall scored in the corner (after great play and set up involving...... Tomkins) a Hull fan calling for Sinfields head as he missed the touch line kick because "he always gets them for leeds" whenever a mistake is made they become a club player again. Knock on? Bloody Wigan b****d. Holding down? Leeds scum.

Always annoys me when people argue with a reselection with "he's done nothing on the international stage" which players have done anything?!

Yep. I can remember in the 2007 test v NZ a group of Bradford fans applauding Shontayne Hape after he'd scored a try. It was a little bit of a WTF moment. He's just scored against your country.
I simply don't understand the club mentality that exists in RL. It's a small, petty mentality that does the sport no favours.

True, however with regards to Tomkins you have to wonder if he can really produce on the international stage.

The reasons given for his struggles in the NRL.....the defences are better and they're other good players in the team which mean it can't all be the Sam Tomkins show in attack like it was at Wigan.....those things transport to the International game too. His strengths therefore are much tougher to replicate International level whereas Hardaker's strengths will be vital.