Letting the ball go into touch was inexcusable and embarrassing to say the least

Sam has earned the right to have an off day in all truth and that is why he'll stay clear of much criticism.

He'll also pay people back for that and do his very best to lead us to the grand final.

Bet he had a sleepless night,but your right he will lead you in what direction who knows

He will do more good than bad, of that there is no doubt. I remember one occasion he was letting a ball go over the dead ball line, but it bounced short and the oppo (Hull?) scored a try. In the CC Final last year he allowed a 40-20, and of course yesterday he did the same. He is good enough to learn from that, and will make up for it. But the OP is right. Had it been Gelling there would be uproar.

Sam will lead us to the grand final and will win man of steel.

Tomkins was a shambles yesterday acting like a footballer running off to moan at the ref because the forward pass wasn't given!! Play to the whistle!! Looked completely uninterested in getting back to field the ball was walking to them all and telling Josh to run it back when his calf was heavily taped!! He is useless under the spiral bomb and is lucky he plays in a league where very few can put them up regularly!! Didn't look like the Sam Tomkins I've enjoyed watching for the past 3 seasons on yesterdays performance. Also thought Harrison Hansen looked completely unfit yesterday and was a passenger was of the time he was on the pitch. O'Loughlin was running the ball like he was still in the LF position. Probably the worst performance I've seen from Wigan for a good while and Leeds, Sinfield in particular made us pay for it.

Just as i suspected, excuses being made, if this had been Dennis Moran back in the day the board would have gone into meltdown, it's just like Trent Barrett all over again, the guy can do no wrong, unbelievable, surely if a player is constantly praised for the good things he does then surely he should be subject to just as much criticism when he does wrong

If a player performs brilliantly throughout the season they are going to get less criticism when things go wrong. If a player makes plenty of errors throughout the season then people are going to keep bringing it up throughout the year. It's not rocket science.

Tomkins was pretty awful yesterday and made some poor errors but he's been one of the best players in Super League throughout the year, so when he makes errors people aren't likely to call for him to be dropped, or suggest he's the worst fullback since the dawn of time.

When a player who gets a lot of criticism plays like Tomkins does I think they'll receive quite a bit of leniency when things go wrong too. It's quite simple really, do well consistently and you'll get less criticism when things do go wrong. Make mistakes consistently and you'll get a lot more criticism when things go wrong.

I agree with the above comment though, he really needs to do some work on the weaker areas of his game and stay focused.

at the game yesterday , and some sat round me said he had made a few mistakes

1 the kick

2 the 40-20

now , i havent seen the game on tv yet , i forgot to record it , but on first reaction the kick was a cracker , allways going away from him, brilliant technique. for me most fullbacks would have struggled to deal with it . so give the kick the credit it was due

the 40-20 , nobody sat around me spotted it was a 40-20 , i didnt really hear anything from the fans on the sideline , so i thought it was the safest option for him to let it go , again credit the leeds and the kick

The high kick he dropped was a great kick from Sinfield. If i was Shaun Wane i would be questioning why Sinfield was allowed to put such a great kick in. Why was there no pressure on him. Even players like Radlinski and Wellens who are both great takers of the high ball would of struggled with that one.

40-20 was just an error that sometimes happens. He misjudged were Sinfield had kicked it from.

Sam is always going to have bad games just a shame for him it was in a semi final. Despite the mistakes he made yesterday he was still one of our best players, but that probably says more about how badly everyone played.

I'm certainly not going abuse him, yesterday when we were 16-0 down, Tomkins took the ball and ran 60 metres. After that we scored two tries and were back in the game.

So Wigan lost. Shame etc etc.


I'm sure you'll be giving the mighty Wire your full support when we yet again get to Wembley.

Why ?

Quite a stupid thread really. His contribution over a season far outweighs his admitted errors in one particular match. That is why he does not get abuse.

In my eyes Wigan a very good allround team, but if you took Tomkins out of it, it would leave a gaping chasm that would be almost impossible to fill. Even yesterday all of the good moves that involve the backline , Tomkins was instrumental in all of them. In addition he gives you an attacking threat from deep inside your own half which practically no other super league team has, apart from maybe burrow when he is in the form he was showing yesterday