Quote: Saddened! "Just utterly outstanding. That try was just utterly sensational, his footwork and balance is the best I've ever seen from a Saints academy product and he is easily one of the most talented players I've ever seen. If you watch that try again look how quick the change of hands is after skinning the fullback. His goalkicking is also pretty ruthless.
Just a 'wow' player and IMO the only one in Super League now Burgess has gone up to bigger and better things. I just hope we get to see this kid in his prime playing in the V.'"
Based on your comments last week, he's a bit of an "up and down" player, then?
"That had nothing to do with Wigan. He's been like that a few times this season. He's learning his trade and he didn't have a good stand off beside him."
Whilst I agree Eastmond is a great player already, I would find it a bit worrying if his performances fluctuated so much. Or, are you willing to now agree that he actually played very well against us but we kept him under wraps?
Easily your most dangerous player, which is as much his disadvantage as it is his advantage. Much like Jamie Lyon, you know where the big "game breaker" is going to try and come from.
However, to now discount Tomkins as a "Wow" player brings your objectiveness into question.
Quote: Saddened! "Eastmond is standing out above Tomkins at the minute because he is standing out for your men, whereas Tomkins is being outshone by a lot of his team-mates (including his brother) who are all in good form, although he's hardly been rubbish. I think that Eastmond is easily the better physical athlete out of the two. You can tell that just by looking at him. But in terms of rugby league skills such as distribution and kicking there really isn't anything between them'"
I wouldn't disagree with much of that. The difference I see between Tomkins and Eastmond is that Tomkins is the better tackler, whilst Eastmond is the better attacker, and that comes a lot from his speed out of the blocks. It's not that he's a super-fast player, it's that he can go from 0 to full tilt VERY quickly, and that makes him difficult to defend against, especially with his excellent side step. That's not to say Tomkins doesn't know how to break a line, he just needs slightly more space to execute it.
My focus is still on seeing the pair of them work as a combination for GB. We have GOT to give it a go.
Quote: Saddened! "So hes the best out the 2 because he helped you scrape a win against the bottom side in the league, Sam got the MOM the other week or has that result been put to the back of your mind already? Sam has in no way been that impressive this year but to declare Eastmond as another class is absolute bollox.'"
Quite right, there is no "other class" between these two, they are in the SAME class.
Quote: Saddened! "How Sam Tomkins got MOM against us is beyond me.
But, they are both class players. The thing that probably gives Eastmond an edge is his electric pace. You can't teach that.'"
Your first line is laughable, the rest is exactly as I said up there. Tomkins got man of the match because he provided a lot of our attack and muscled up in defence, and played a big part in keeping Cunningham, Roby AND Eastmond very very quiet.
Although to be fair, since he gifted us about 80 metres of territory and 6 points from penalty kicks, Wilkin should probably have got MOM.
Quote: Saddened! "Tomkins was miles better than Eastmond in the derby game. Tomkins has pulled of quite a few bits of magic this year. Both have been great. Eastmond has made a much bigger improvement on last year than Tomkins though.'"
Sums it up nicely. Tomkins got young player of the year last year and deservedly so, this year I reckon Eastmond would win it.
