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.

So, of all the poms playing in the NRL, who can we consider the best?

Graham, Burgess(s), Widdop or Tomkins?

In this order I'd take S. Burgess, G. Burgess, Graham, Tomkins, Widdop.

James Graham.

I think Sam is still clearly the best, which is a shame, since he's leaving. George and Graham are so different, it is hard to compare, but I would probably take George at the Raiders if given the choice. Graham is worth so much to the Dogs though.


Fair call. I did forget Slater, who proved not only in Game I, but in his last few appearances for the Storm, he is certainly not done yet. Easily QLD's best last Wednesday. Picked out Beau Scott all night and got him all but for the attempt after the 80 minute siren.