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?

Like some other posters have said, until Tomkins tests himself in the NRL then you can't claim he's the best FB in the world. What you have to remember is that Slater has been this good for quite a few years. Consistency and level of opposition is the key to being called the best. Ellery Hanley did it both over here and in Australia plus also at test level. Now there was a fantastic player. Tomkins has a long way to go before he can be called the best FB and even longer before he can be called the best player in the world.

Even in Australia, Slater would not be considered the best in the world, best fullback yes.
Cam Smith or JT would be considered more influential in deciding a game.

Rarely are outside backs the best players in the World, Hookers and Halves make a team tick.

Although the Golden Boot award is not always an accurate benchmark its a good indicator.

From 20 awards...
7 x Five eighths (standoffs)
5 x Halfbacks
4 x Fullbacks
2 Centres
1 Hooker
1 Lock
1 Second Rower