I think Sam Tomins is very freakish, in his balance and flexibility, there was a try against HKR a few weeks back, where despite the attempts of about 7 players to tackle him he seemed to slip out of every tackle. Yes you might point to bad defending, BUT it was also alot about being able to slip out of tackles that no one else in SL can. Even though his top speed would be matched by a few in SL, His pace over the first 15 meters is great, a bit like Jason Robinson.

Slater is a great player, possibly the best in the world. But like 99% of fullbacks (Tomkins included) he is also prone to a few defensive errors, the best example being in the 2008 WC Final.

Its very difficult to gauge if Tomkins is the best player in the world, however he would definetly be in my top 5.

Thurston to me is the best half back in the world. His decision making and timing of the pass is spot on pretty much all the time. If I had to pick one half back to win my side a game I would always pick JT.

Daily cherry-evans looks super talented and Shaun Johnson looks like a freak. Amazing balance and when he goes to the line you see the confusion he causes in the defensive line. They wait that extra half a second to make a decision and the kid has a great pass on him. Obviously he makes errors but his so young its expected.

I think you can easily make a point for Tompkins being in the top 5 in the world. His very consistent and he does things which other players in super league cannot. Was right behind that try at the etihad and just the burst of pace and acceleration over the first 15 yards is something else.

At test level we dont see the same tomkins but England don't have the halves which can get him into those dangerous positions.

You can take Hayne out of there, he's been awful for the last 2 years.

Cringeworthy thread to have halfway through the season. I hope Wigan win everything just so this isn't dredged up in October.

I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground. On current form nobody can touch us, but form is temporary and all that...we shall see come the end of the season, but I do agree with the original point that Wigan are the most entertaining side by far this year but it has been compounded by a less aggressive Wire and the stuttering of Saints, Leeds and now Hudds.

The Barcelona of RL?

God, the Wigan arrogance is back.

They win a few games and we are now expected to bow to this lot.

I think Tomkins is fantastic but I'd wait until he's played in the NRL before drawing comparisons with Slater. Not to say he won't do well in Australia (I actually think he'd take it by storm) I'd just like to reserve judgement until then. I hope he goes over and not to Union.

People seem to have this idea that the NRL is made up of 16 squads of Green & Gold quality players. It isn't. The NRL has more than enough poor defenders and weak defensive reads for Tomkins to thrive, just like Slater and co do.

Maybe,
The fact is the NRL is several levels higher than SL across the board.

Correct.

I would have said they were more like Mourinho's Madrid than Barcelona. More machine than avant garde.

we,ve played well recently but i never get complacent when it,s 13 against 13 on any given day. the style of play is very entertaining but you can,t play like that every week, it,s not humanly possible.

So basically teams have adopted the Australian approach of defence, taking away the scoot, and the 'intensity' of the league has therefore dropped?

There's a reason we can't compete with the Aussies. It's because they take away Roby/Burrows et al scooting from dummy half. We have nothing after that. This new style will help us develop a new game plan - Wigan, as always, are leading the way.

Wigan played pretty well against a very, very poor Leeds side.

Comparisons with the NRL are ridiculous. Wigan's pack (particularly lacking Hock) would get nothing like the yardage it did against Leeds, and Tomkins would get far fewer chances to do much with the ball. In fact if you take the Leeds defence from the WCC against Manly and put it against Wigan, you wouldn't have scored more than a couple of tries. Quite probably still have won, but not by anything like that scoreline.

A bugbear of mine in SL is how quickly teams wave the white towel when they're getting beaten, leading to more soft tries and blowout scores. It does happen in the NRL (Newcastle last week were really bad when it mattered) but far less frequently.

Still not at the Warrington pace of last year yet. I think we scored a stupid percentage of our tries from within our own half and averaged around 40 points a game, whilst averging only about 16 conceded. They have also lost their last 3 league games against Warrington (sorry for sounding like Phil Clarke)

Wire 2011 - 39 a game scored 14 a game conceded

Wigan 2012 - 36 a game scored 15 a game conceded

They're by far the best team this season and their RL is breathtaking, still not as entertaining or as dominant as Wire 2011 though, there is a lot of the season left though and could easily set records in most categories.

So from reading this if Sam Tomkins picks up a long injury Wigun will be fecked?