This is great news for RL in general and Wigan in particular. There are no garantees but I would expect that with the benefit of Wigan's fitness, conditioning and coaching staff Joel will be able to regain his fitness and sharpness after his stint in the less demanding code.

This is a real boost to our chances of retaining the SL title in the short term and as others have said we have in JT someone who can take on the difficult task of following SOL, a captain who has led the team through a dark era and back to the top of RL in this country.

As for those writing off SOL, I hope and pray you are wrong!

I agree with Elvis.

I hope his back is in the same condition as Matty Bowens knees

Well, the 11 shirt was going begging after H left, they were hardly going to give a marquee signing squad no.42 or where ever we are up to, it is his preferred position, but you cant rule him out of the centres.

Well I hope Wane does.

Well i have. He's got to play back row.

I've seen some people criticising him saying it's no big deal and he'll be Wigan's third best second rower at best. I think this is due to his most recent League season spent playing out of position at centre where i think he was ok but no where near as good as he was in the second row. If he'd stayed he would have been England's best second rower by now.

I hope he can get back to where he was because i was a big fan of Joel and he offers something we're missing. Can't wait for his second debut.

it either leaves Bateman or Faz on the bench, or Joel at centre. The numbers not important, 11 was free so why not. IIRC he wore 11 playing centre,, but that was Madges idea, Wane may think different.
Before he left he had the potential to be the best british centre since Keef Senior, but i suspect he may have come back on the back of a promise to let him go back playing in his fav position

Good to see him return, especially the year before the next RU world cup.

I think you're right in that. He wasn't a great centre and that clouded people's judgement on him at second row IMO. He was exceptional in that position and getting better all the time. He was big and aggressive, ran great lines, defended well and his main quality was his pace which is great for a big bloke. His handling ability is something we've missed in that backrow as well.

If we can get the Joel Tomkins of 2010 back eventually we'll be in a very good position indeed.

Joel Tomkins had his best season in 2010 especially the first half of the season when he become one of the most powerful runners around and a really clinical defender. He still had his pace and even scored a long range try better than the one at Wembley. His best position is second row by far IMO. He showed some awesome glimpses at centre, but that is because he is a great player, not because he is a great centre.

I would only consider playing him at centre if 3 of our 4 centres are injured for a big game as he would still be a better option than Jack Hughes.

It will be interesting to see how he goes at Loose when Lockers is rested, hopefully he can learn to link up like Lockers does and become his natural replacement.

The way I see it, he has been having a rest in Union. The training and particularly the games are nowhere near as demanding. He is 27 but probably is as fresh as the 24 year old who left. No doubt he will have prolonged his career in league by resting in Union for a few years.

People will need to be patient with him though, past examples have proved that the horrible other code can coach all of the ability out of good players. We will see the best of him next season after a full pre-season with our coaching staff and players.

Operation Red Squirrel Rads at his best. www.wiganwarriors.com/WBlogp.aspx?id=22

Operation Red Squirrel Rads at his best. www.wiganwarriors.com/WBlogp.aspx?id=22