Thought the same when reading it! Kevin Sinfield could have his own whistle!
No Leeds fans question the blatant dis-respect Bailey showed to the ref when he was called out for trying stick his fingers up Farrells nose!!

I presume Cross was at no fault when he ran in to grab the ball! What was he going to do put it in an imaginary scrum, although saying that the way leeds packed down a couple of times their scrum was imaginary!!

As for the original post.
Sam is quality. He as a cockyness due to his natural ability. He is competitive and gives opposition things to think about!
He wouldnt be so hated if he wasnt making teams look silly week in and week out! Im just so glad every other team in super league think hes a an over rated spoilt brat, let him see his career out with us!

Can see where you're coming from and as a non Wigan fan, understand your frustration. However, most of what you see as niggly play is in fact total commitment to the cause. He is a 100% player and gives everything, every game. I'd ask you to try and look in an unbiased way, just how much stick he takes from other teams. When he takes the ball in, as he does repeatedly, it's a given that someone will risk trying to hurt him every time, yet you never hear Madge or the player himself bleating as Agar and Brown did when their key players were getting hammered.

Against Leeds, JJB, Cross, Buderus, Ablett, even sinless Sinfield all had a go. Against Hull and Warrington it was the same. The fact that he reacts like he does says a lot about this courage.

I've never, as yet, seen him go into a tackle with the intention of deliberately hurting someone, most of what he does is pure gamesmanship.

I personally like Danny Maguire but a lot of Wigan fans only see his little cheats he throws in every now and then.

"With the Clarkson tackle, he was nowhere near, and yet still got involved. "

So did every other player on the pitch

I've thought for some time now that Sam Tomkins is the Wigan equivalent of Danny McGuire. Both players neither set of fans would do without. Hopefully we'll be able to have both fit and on form this year for the 4 nations.

Tomkins is already a better player than McGuire was at his peak. Tomkins is still learning and maturing, his potential is immense - I'm sure he will go on to become one of the all time greats of RL in this country, assuming he can stay injury free.

You mean, assuming one of these cheap shots doesn't actually hurt him.

Compare Tomkins with Eastmond and Myler. All three were touted as the next big thing. Eastmond has had injuries but along with Myler has not set SL on Fire as Tomkins has already done. People keep forgetting he is still young and will get a lot better. Players are targetting him as they think it will make him lose focus. But occasionally you get a sports star that actually gets better with it. John Mcenroe is one i can think of once he got worked up he was unstopable.

Teams think this works with Sam but as Friday proved give him 10 minutes and he can turn a game.

I can't believe you just compared the 2 in the same sentence. HOW DARE YOU.



As for the OP, 100% passion for the game. If a half back didn't have the attitude, then they would get mullered on the pitch from every bigger player.

The the thing with Tomkins is he does what all good half backs do and gets on the oppositions nerves.

As for the hand trapping I don't blame him I never moan about the guys of yours that do it as the way I see it is that their arm was somewhere it shouldn't have been and so a penalty should be rewarded and it would almost certainly be
missed otherwise.

"Im not a troll................BUT" yeah, right.

The sad thing is, by the law of averages or probability, whatever you prefer, it is inevitable that Tomkins will sooner or later be SERIOUSLY injured. The RFL should then be held responsible for this when it happens, because the blame will lie with them via Cummins.

When a player terrorises teams like Sam does for you, there's bound to be opposition fans moaning about owt they can find.

The hand trapping is annoying, but he's not the only one who does it. Players should be intelligent enough to know he'll try it so don't get your hand stuck in there!

Think imagining him playing for you is a difficult scenario to imagine really and I don't doubt the sincerity of your reply for a minute but I also imagine you would probably be like us and just admire him and enjoy watching him play and get annoyed just as much as us when he gets targetted. Sam doesn't go looking for bother like some players do and this year in particular it is as if other teams are doing their utmost to irritate him and Joel in order to have a punch up and maybe get them sent off the field as a result. I can understand teams wanting to close him down as he is such a talent, just hope he doesn't get badly injured as a result of some of the hits he gets. Having said that both Sam and Joel need to learn how to keep their cool and the officials need to up their game for all teams and make sure no players end up out of this great game we all love for anything any more serious than normal wear and tear injuries. Wont hold my breath on the last one though!