I still find it funny how when the likes of Mathers, and Thorman went over to the NRL, and the likes of James Graham went everyone was patting them on the back saying how they wished more players would go over there because it would benefit the national side, hardly anyone saw this as a negative at the time, I did, but I was in the minority I think. Now a complete shift has taken place and everyone is predicting the demise of the game in this country because half a dozen more players have made the switch to the NRL.... I still don't see it as the sword of Damocles it's being made out to be.

I think one of the reasons is the fact that the quality coming the other way is not near the standard we were getting a few years back.Dont get me wrong, im glad the numbers are less than they used to be but most players coming over are journeymen and players not good enough for NRL.

we used to get rep. players the quality of Barrett,Buderus,Lyon,Lauititi,Swain,Berrigan,Mckenna,Furner,Gidley etc... who were THE star names in SL.Back then a couple of players UK players lost didn't weaken the league.

at the moment i would say Luke Walsh is easily the top import and the star players in our league from overseas and he was only a run of the mill name in OZ.The bulk of the star names in SL these days are the homegrown players of the likes of Roby,Watkins,Briscoe,Hall,Makinson,Bateman,Ferres etc.. and the more of these players leave the weaker our league becomes.

I agree with your general point about the declining quality of NRL imports. However I think that you underestimate Luke Walsh's standing in the NRL. He was above average, even if not outstanding in the manner of Cherry Evans, Cronk and the rising super star Luke Brooks. I think that Walsh's move to Super League was a matter of St Helens offering him a better deal than Penrith was offering.

Tomkins MoM in a great win for NZW at the Storm.
Settled in and starting to look the business now.

I thought Sam was lucky to get the MoM ahead of Shaun Johnson, who was absolutely brilliant. But Sam did play very well and was one of the best three players on the field. He is definitely starting to look the business now.

he is a class player.anyone with an ounce of common sense knew he would eventually find his feet over there.hopefully this is the start of a hot run of form for him and the Warriors.

Tomkins is getting there but the Warriors are still playing far too flat to get the best out of him from full back.

I thought that Mike Cooper did well again for St George-Illawarra, even though his side was beaten by the Sydney Roosters. The commentators refer to him as the "big Englishman."

Andrew Johns noted that Cooper was not a starting player for Warrington, but that he had backed himself to succeed in the NRL, which is very impressive.

Jean, your superstar mate played for Newtown again. They got smashed at home.

James Graham was outstanding again for Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Probably deserved MoM.

But Graham and Tomkins got into a bit of an altercation in the first half, which almost led to punches (which if it had would have resulted in one or two red cards). Andrew Voss was talking about an English civil war.

Tomkins was OK but Graham was outstanding, and scored a try to top it off.

Yesterday Gareth Widdop and Mike Cooper, along with Josh Dugan and Brett Morris, were about the only players who played well for St George.

Sam Tomkins played well today for NZ Warriors. His linkups with the outside backs, involving timing his runs and slick passing, are excellent. Case in point was the last try by Konrad Hurrell.

Put that try down to Johnson, an oustanding quick pass right at the line to bring tomkins into play, from there all tomkins had to do was draw and pass.

Mixed bag from Tomkins, some decent link up play in attack but also some handling errors.

Tomkins is doing pretty well in the nrl aso far but when you look at all the other quality fullbacks and some of the things they produce he doesn't stand out as anything special, just an above average decent player.

When you think of how much he used to dominate super league it's another reminder of the quality of the nrl.

I think Tomkins has done quite a few special things already. Sure, when compared with Hayne and Inglis, he's not in their league, but nobody else is either. I think he stands tall in the next group though, which still makes him very good. If he can cut down on his errors, he may even nail down the 3rd best spot in time.

I would be looking for Tomkins to nail down 4th or 5th spot, not 3rd, in the future. After all there is Hayne, Inglis and Slater as well taking up the first tier. And let's not forget Brett Stewart, who is a little out of sorts at the moment.

Not the case. Penrith are contributing towards Walsh's salary here at Saints. Our coach and chairman pulled off an astute piece of business. Luke Walsh is exactly the kind of half we needed - an organiser with a good kicking game. He's a perfect fit for us. A peach of a deal and I hope he stays. He is a classy player.