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.

Tomkins has done fairly well so far but as someone else pointed out, he's just a decent full back in the NRL, not the superstar he was in SL. He's made plenty of errors too. I'm a Tomkins fan but always questioned whether his ability to shine would be stifled in the NRL with their faster, more agile and more intelligent defences and so far that seems to largely be the case.

Sam, George and Tom were outstanding for Souths this morning. Very few defences can handle them when they get a roll on and they ploughed deep furrows through St George all game, with some huge tackles from Sam. I don't care if he's going to yawnion, we need him until the day his RU begins.

All the English lads are doing fantastically so far. Mossop was 18th man for the Eels this week and has been told he'll get his shot when one of the current first team players in his position can't play.

In my opinion James Graham has been the most consistently good English player in the NRL this year. He’s one of the Bulldogs senior players and is very important to them. He never seems to be anything but excellent.

Sam Burgess is also very good too and almost on a par with Graham. George Burgess is very good too but doesn’t play the long minutes of Sam Burgess or James Graham as he’s more of an impact player.

I’d say they’re the top 3.

Tomkins has taken time to find his feet and has had to come into a side that isn’t as good as the Rabbits or Bulldogs. Early on in the season the Warriors were woeful but since McFadden took over they’ve improved. I think he’ll get better but he’s in a more exposed position than all the other imports so an average game from him looks worse than it would from a forward.

I thought Widdop looked excellent early on but the Dragons have struggled lately and the Marshall sideshow won’t help them. Like all halfbacks he does better when the forwards are on top and St George have struggled at times in that department. He’s also not had a consistent halfback partner of any real quality. I’m not sure Marshall is the answer either with him being so off the cuff.

I think Cooper’s done well without being spectacular. Same as Luke Burgess. I expect Mossop to do alright too. I look forward to seeing him in action.

I think the way the warriors play and how they utilise Tomkins is one of the main reasons why he's less effective in the NRL than in SL. We've seen very little of his running game because of a much more flat attacking line than at Wigan, and he doesn't get his hands on the ball anywhere near as much. He's basically being used as a 3rd halfback, if they want to get the most out of him then they need to set up their plays so he has more time on the ball out the back.

Yeah, Tomkins was the focal point of the attack at Wigan yet at the Warriors he has a different role as a wide playmaker. He’s not put into as much space (there’s less anyway in the NRL) and so is never going to look as effective as he did over here.

I think since Hurrell got in the side he’s linked up better every week and Warriors dropping Fisiiahi and Neilson has helped as they’ve been poor. He must have a pile of assists already this year.

I think also he’s found it hard to link up with Johnson who’s difficult to read and Townsend who’s not very good.

We saw a bit more of his running game when Leuluai was at 6, I don't rate Townsend either.

Also to put his errors in perspective, ST has made 14 in 12 appearances, Slater has made 10 in 13, Inglis 11 in 11 and Hayne 16 in 10.

Agreed.

The Warriors use Townsend on the left, Johnson on the right, with Tomkins slotting into a halfback position on either side when he can. Completely different to how Wigan used him to finish off moves, for the Warriors he's more of a play maker.

I guess Wigan fans probably noticed, but I didn't know his hands were as good as they are. Some sublime touches so far this year.

A few mistakes and a couple of games where he's not quite been on it, but generally he's getting better and better.


The Burgess lads were awesome against St George. Graham too has been brilliant.

We can produce great players, even if they play in aus, long as they keep up that form for England and we can partner them with our best SL (not just McNamaras faves) we should do really well for abit of time too bad sam is off to union.

Graham's by far the most consistent. Great go forward and great hands for a forward. Sam's obviously talented, but unfortunately he'll leave league with his job still largely unfinished. If George can up a bit of his game time, he'l be a monster for Souths and England/GB.
Tomkins' major problem is Johnson. As has already been touched upon, he's too much of a maverick. It looks like he's going to get Tomkins involved in the play then goes off on his own. SIMO it looks like Sam's talent is being wasted a little at the moment...
Widdop's a good'un, but needs to be playing behind a pack with the upper hand. Still a shoe-in for the 4 Nations, mind...

Lee Mossop makes his debut for Parramatta off the bench this Friday. Looks like he will play second row.

Sam Burgess performance yesterday was impressive, ran over 100 meters in the first half alone, finished up on 192, the only other players to break 150 were Ben Creagh at 151 and George B at 182. Tom also chipped in with 143 meters and 21 tackles off bench.

I don't know why, but I have a feeling that a u-turn may be on the cards for Sam. Might be wishful thinking on my part, but there's a lot for Sam to accomplish in RL

That ship has sailed. Sam B may regret leaving but he won't back down.

I still think he mistakenly believed all the TV hype about how great it was to have SBW back in RL which was pushed ridiculously by Channel 9 and suggested that RL fans were happy for their stars to come and go to RU when and as they liked, when the fact is that a lot of RL fans here had had enough of RL players talking about moving to RU as though it is just the same as changing clubs.

Fifita made the same mistake too. Sam B may have suffered from being the straw which broke the camel's back in that regard, but hard luck.