I kept my eye on Graham at Brookvale the other week as well as this weekend. He is an outstanding player. What he does off the ball is superb. His ball skills are amazing and not what people think of from a prop. having said that, if you talk to old australians, that's what they loved about the "pommie" touring sides of the 50s & 60s, was the big, tough props with skills far superior to their own.

He is one of the people that thankfully debunks the myth that the australian way is so superior in its coaching, conditioning etc. etc. He could have easily played 80. And was livid for being taken off for 5.

James Graham. 75 mins, 36 receives, 22 runs for 172m, 20 hit ups for 150m, 1 run at 1st receiver for 9m, 2 tackle breaks, 39 tackles, 1 missed, 0 ineffective tackles, 1 offload, 1 line break = class.

Sam Tomkins had a brilliant game tonight against Parramatta, scoring 2 magnificent tries and setting up another for captain Simon Mannering after his own 30 metre run and break of the Parramatta defence line.

He took all the bombs kicked at him. But his attack was the best he has displayed in the NRL and equal to his best for Wigan. He was undoubtedly man of the match. Quite an achievement when you consider that Konrad Hurrell was devastating in attack and Shaun Johnson was also brilliant.

Sam Tomkins was outstanding this morning to out shine Johnson and Hurrell with the way they played is some feat in it self. Not sure if he officially got the man of the match but he deserved it and then James Graham was instrumental in the bulldogs win and he deserved the MOM as well.

In his attacking runs Tomkins was beating Parramatta Eels defenders on almost every occasion. In his first try he beat two men and then attracted two other tacklers but still managed to reach out and touch down as they brought him to the ground. In his second try the Warriors pack pushed the Eels pack off the ball after the Eels fed the scrum. In the chaos of this scripted move Tomkins ran through to pick up the ball and scored. Later, after he broke the Parramatta defence line with a weaving aggressive run, Tomkins ran 30 metres and then offloaded to his captain Mannering who raced 30 metres to score. Tomkins also made the extra man in a sweeping attacking movement that resulted in the Warriors' first try to outstanding young winger Fusitua.

If the NZ Warriors can continue to play the way that they played in their annihilation of the Eels they will be in the playoffs for sure (as of now they are 6th) and perhaps they could even make the Grand Final. If Tomkins can continue the form that he showed in the Eels match he will finally achieve the high respect that he has sought from the NRL fans and coaches. In his interview post match Tomkins looked chuffed.

Pity only 14,000 plus people were at the game, but it was a bit of a damp Auckland winter evening (Wigan weather as the Kiwi interviewer noted, or a Wigan summer evening as NZ Sky caller Andrew Voss joked).

posters who believe Jean C is trolling need to wake up and smell the coffee. It is pretty certain the the NRL will continue its raids on our shores fo rthe best talent.

The question is ... do SL have any ideas of how to keep its best players ?

Hard to tell how good Tomkins was from that game - the Eeels were very poor. It will do his confidence the world of good though.

What we haven't seen yet from Tomkins is a dominant display in attack combined with a mistake-free solid game in defence against one of the top teams. When he starts to do that he will have really turned the corner.

Spot on!
The Eels were as poor as the Warriors were good. Let's see him and the team do that against the Dogs or Storm, then maybe he'll be worth his salary, but for me, I still see no benefit to having him over Locke.

Tomkins' footwork, agility and strength were outstanding in that game.
That is a credit to him and nothing to do with how poor the Eels were.

Correct.

Acres of space and poor tackling delivered one his tries.....and union delivered another.....
He's pulled up in training yesterday and the press here are again asking about the decision to offload Locke

He already has, Round 6 Anzac day....was there some other blockbuster sell out sporting event on in Wellington that day that preoccupied you?

Locke was, by all accounts, a major culture problem for the club and offloading him was more to do with his attitude and influence than his ability. Anyomne who doesn;t think Tomkins tore the Eeels a new one doesn't know RL. The pressure is only so great due to the Warriors spending silly money getting him there but as no one else wanted to sign for them they had to pay above market rates to get a name.

I was going to post that to but could be bothered trying to change bitter opinions about Sam. interestingly Shaun Johnson has said sam beats him in the sprint races but in the last 2 years it would be hard to say he was faster.

Sam burgess mom last night. Such a waste of talent next year!