Full back is Sam's best position.
We will have Wane as our coach for next season and with his history in coaching the youth teams at Wigan I do think he will give lads an opportunity when a position needs filling.
Our U20s are the best in the League and have proved it again by winning their GF for the fourth year on the run. We would be very foolish not to give these lads a go in the first team when they are so good.
Deacs may retire and if not isn't going to play every week. Mellor can play at 6, he will have experience all around him with Finch and Lockers. SW will try him there next year I'm sure.
If Sam were to have time off for injury or rest then SW will put Russell in there. Pat's been there and not really done it. Time to promote.
As for forwards.
Props we'll have Fielden, Lima, Prescott, Mossop and SW can promote Spencer and Crosby when he feels the time is right or due to injuries. It is rumoured Dudson is being signed and he plays prop.
With second rowers we'll have Hock, Hansen, perhaps Lauaki, Farrell. Tuson and Hughes who will have more game time next year, also Joel if a centre can be found.
Lockers at loose.
The one difficult one is centre, we need a right centre now and a left centre when George goes. Filling both those positions is the real problem the club faces.
Full back is not a problem, Sam is the best around and if he's not available for some reason then it's time we promoted Russell.

Great post. Im encouraged about our whole team and the future of it with the players who are coming through except the centre spots. Just look at the rest of our squad and it has quality throughout and some great young stars. Centre does need sorting out but all teams will have problems to sort out and i still feel we are in a very strong position compared to others.

Everytime Sam has a couple of quiet games this gets brought up and it's balls tbh. He's a freak of a player and can play both positions superbly well but when he has a quiet spell it doesn't automatically mean he's in the wrong position and vice versa when he has a run of brilliant games.

Sam's long term position will be decided by circumstances. If say Matty Russell develops as he could at fullback we'd have a devastating 1 in him and 6 in Sam. If on the other hand Mellor pushes through at 6 we'll keep Sam at 1. We may sign a class halfback and that will keep him at 1.

All ifs and buts but one thing is for sure he's a great player and it's such a shame we don't have 2 of him. I'd love to have him at 1 and his clone at 6.

Sam Tomkins is not only one of the best attacking FB in the game he is defencivly very good as well. If anyone thinks he is not a full back then tell me why is he in the running for MOS as a FB.

Best british fullback by a country mile.!

Personally i think he should play 6. He played there all his life until the middle of last year. Yes is superb and coming into the line with his electric pace. however i think teams are watching out for that now. Personally i think he'd be better at 6 to get his hands on the ball more.

He's in for MOS because he is already very good player and could become great. He would probably have been considered if he were playing prop as he can certainly play the game.

Still think his defence isn't up to it (was run over again yesterday for a try) and i realise that there is a belief that joining the line and attacking is what a modern full back should be doing. That is all very well but not to the detriment of the defensive necessities of full back. Look at how much work he had to do defensively in the CC semi final and see how it affecting the team's attack. Two weeks ago he missed some crucial tackles, Richards still drops into full back to collect high kicks occasionally and more than once Tomkins was out of position defensively.

Since hurting his shoulder/arm just before half time a fortnight ago against St Helens, he hasn't played as well.

He could be the best standoff in the world...he will never be the best full back.

He has been very dangerous in a number of games from Full back this season. When the forwards have gained the advantage he chimes into the line well and is just as effective as if he was playing 6. I think FB gives him more freedom and options. Just before Wembley he was lethal from FB but since he has looked out of sorts for some reason. I really don't know why he has started throwing the ball across to his winger instead of running it back which he used to. Maybe he has picked up an injury or maybe just having a dip in confidence following the publicity over his Wembley moment.
I sincerely hope for his sake and England's that people get behind him when he pulls on the England shirt for the 4 nations and cut out the ridiculous booing. We need everyone behind the team if we are to have any chance of challenging the Aussies. I will certainly be behind all the players including Roby, Sinfield, Westwood etc. When they pull on the England shirt all the club rivalry and banter will be left behind.

I think he can play both equally as well. How can anyone question his defence? He made a superb cover tackle in the first minute of the play off game at the DW and his defence was absolutely superb to stop Gaskell passing or scoring yesterday. It reminded me of Radlinski the way he held off Gaskell and forced him to make a hash of it. That was as good as any defensive full back play you will ever see.

I think the reason hes not been quite as effective in attack recently is due to him carrying a bit of an injury. When he broke yesterday and got ankle tapped 2 months ago he would of been out of sight and it would of been a try.

Gaskell was running at full pace and was less than a yard out when Tomkins hit him. No fullback in the world would have prevented that try. It was the defenders in the line who let him make the break that were at fault.

Spot on, Sam did well to have the impact that he did because Gaskell was going through at full pelt. You cannot alter the laws of physics, no full back would of stopped that try.

Our sam hasn't been his self of late weather it's fatigue his shoulder injury playing up or just fooked after one he'll of a long season one things for sure he is the best full back in the game and waney would be silly to bring him back to the halves who is gonna replace deacs??thoughts??

Admittedly the gap left in the line helps, but Gaskell was more then fifteen metres out when he got the ball. The reason tomkins could only make contact a metre or so from the line is that he was still coming across and not in the best defensive position during the play and not moving forward to meet the attacker. Still......

The previous PTB was about 10 metres in from the right touchline. Sam was following the ball back across the line. For me Sam wasnt at fault for that try, Leuluai and Hansen left a massive hole 10 metres from the try line. The FB is expected to be a solid last line of defence, but imo is not expected to stop those one on one.