All the attention is on him and rightfully so but if people point the finger at him yesterday about guys like Townsend, Johnson or any of the Warriors pack they're picking faults for the sake of it. He was the best of a bad bunch.

One thing I will say though is he needs moving to stand off. He's changed his game now to become a real creative force and his weaknesses at fullback will be exposed over there more then they have been in superleague.

Well at least you gave him a fair chance, eh?
I'm sure Wigan fans aren't too impressed with Matty Bowen so far either.

My thought too. Townsend constantly picked the wrong option in attacking positions; Johnson was completely anonymous throughout; the fringe defence was embarrassing on both edges; the pack was dominated; plenty of soft errors in their own half (notably Vatuvei and Lousi).

What exactly is a fullback supposed to do when the entire team in front of him is being dominated like that? Tomkins' passing game was pretty much perfect in selection and execution, his running game was poor and he wasn't elusive/balanced enough to mitigate his light weight and the fact that he's a known target. He made a pretty bad error under a bomb under plenty of pressure from Hayne (who arguably knocked Tomkins' hands out of the way just before he tried to catch) but beyond that he was one of the better players in a well-beaten team. Round 1 performances like that from the Warriors are hardly unusual though.

Not disagreeing with your main point, but Ellis was not 'ordinary' in his first season at Wests, he was exceptional and took their player of the year award.

Sam had a pretty up and down 1st game, a few mistakes he probably wouldn't normally make, and a few great passes to counter.

Its a new league, a new team and two new countries for him, it will take time, but he is TOP quality, he will get on well in the NRL and once the Warriors sort out their pretty flat attack they will get him the space he needs.

The Warriors edge defence was abysmal, particularly on the right in the first half.

Their forwards were totally out enthused too and the ball security was pants. The quality just wasn't there. Seems like the best kiwi forwards play for other NRL teams.

I thought they'd be much better but they looked poor. Parra's forwards were much more impressive.

Hardly the sort of platform for any fullback to excel, particularly one on debut in a much tougher league.

Both teams looked average but Warriors especially so.

Decent in attack, suspect in defence. Which just about sums up every England performance against Australia!

In no paricular order: Inglis, Thurston, Smith, Cronk, Lyon, Tate, Morris, Hayne, Slater, SBW, Fifita, Gallen, Graham, Burgess, Thaiday, Barba, Mannering, Waerea-Hargreaves, Pritchard, Bird, Boyd, Watmough, Cherry-Evans, Carney, Lewis.

ST is in the top few as a broken field runner. I would argue he is relatively weak in other areas though. Too many British RL supporters equate flash play with greatness. Effectiveness is what counts.

Pet. Civo. for instance in many ways looked ordinary but he was a great player because he nearly always quitely got on top of his opponents over the course of a big match.

Great players also win big, close matches rather than just scoring a hatful against weaker opposition.

In those terms, I think ST has alot to prove. I think he has the potential to do so though.

Give over! Do you seriously believe that?

I agree 25 is a push, but he certainly wouldn't be Top10 players in their position for me.

He was excellent in the world cup and pre-season. One average game and people are writing him off. Pathetic. Worse English players than him have done very well over there.

Jeez. One game?! One game and the critics are out.

He made two tries and could easily have made 3. He was beaten in the air to a bomb and was stepped once when there were 4 others charging across as well, who missed too.
Warriors were not great and Eels were better. Simple as that. Can't pin that on one player

I feel he is definately in the top 17 in the world, he should kick on to top 10.