Again it will come with age.

He's not the finished product, in fact he's no where near the level he will end up at.

Just enjoy the good he does.

He is by far our best long kicker and should kick more.

I think sam should be playing stand off not full back.He's much less effective at the back when he runs the ball back he doesn't make as many meters as he would in the attacking line.Pat is the best at full back by far

Not normally he isn't (didn't see the match today though). Deacon is by far our best attacking kicker. Sam's kicks far too often go straight to the opposing FB/winger.

He's much more effective in the line at stand off, we're wasting him at full back.

Bring in a full back next year when deacon retires and get leuluai at hooker with finchy and Sam at halves, mick mac from bench and we'll be sorted

I think one of the main reasons madge plays tomkin at 1 is because his defence is a weakness. Having him in the line will mean him been targeted play after play in the line. A to knacker him out for when he has ball in hand and B because of his defence is pretty poor.

Good move by madge taking heat of tomkin. It also means a lot less chance of injury.

Is Sam's defence really that bad? I thought he was a good tackler and always goes around the legs, this myth of his defence being poor is rubbish.

He should pass more though when we have an overlap, so frustrating to watch at times.

+1

+1

Exactly. When he's on the hunt so to speak, from marker and even in the line, he's made some superb tackles on people much bigger than himself, and has on a few occasions made repeat tackles from marker 3/4 times in a row. He's not as good at tackling from the full-back position as he's having to then chase the play and he's more vulnerable left at the back on his own.

Tomkins never had a problem with his defence at SO he his begining to get his options right at fullback, unlikely to be done for pace he puts attackers in two minds. Richards is much better on the wing and he works well with Tomkins.

i think it's more to do with the fact he weighs about 6 stone wet through

It's not Sam's poor defence that the worry is, it's that at 6 he would have to make probably 25+ tackles a game. At 1 he makes around 8-10. So when he come's into the line he's fresh and quick.
He's fast paced and thinking quickly, at 6 he would be knackered.
This has shown at Leeds with 15 mins to go he was at first receiver off Finch, kicked through and scored. For the last play when we got the pen it was Sam who's pace took him past the Leeds defence. All in the last minutes of the half.
Same yesterday, five minutes from the end of the first half his quick thinking took him across the field spreading the Saints defence and pulling the wingman in from the touchline, Charnley scored.
He offers more from one, later in his career he'll go back to 6.

Common sense at last.

When he was playing 6 as he was when he first broke into the first team he was a real terrier in defence often being first man in after the opposition play the ball when marking. It also had the advantage he was not usually doing many one-on-one tackles. As we do in defence it's a two and three man effort most of the time so he wasn't trying to stop props single handed. Other teams cope with small half backs and do not move them to full back so I doubt that is what lies behind it. If it was its a bit of an odd move because he is far more exposed defensively to being run at by big men playing at 1 and I do think that is a problem against the better sides who will break through more than some of the poorer sides in the competition.

If he is targeted in the line then do as other sides do in such circumstances and move him out wide for the first few drives.