That about sums it up - he needs to learn how to draw the man then offload, rather than running diagonally for the cornerflag, cutting off Charnley. It HAS worked before because he's had the skill to pop the ball back inside for Charnley, but it's not a high percentage play.

That say, his size, skill and pace combination causes havoc to the other team. I'd definitely keep him at centre.

Agree with that, he's the potential to be in the Keith Senior mould, namely large, mobile, good tackler and not afraid to crack some heads when needed. I just hope we don't sign a Ryan Bailey type prop to hide behind him

I believe that Joel will be a class centre some day but it will take some work,he needs to learn the art of drawing in the winger to leave enough space for Charnley.

His first movement when he receive's the ball should be straight towards the centre and just before contact he should step outside to try and draw the opposition winger in freeing up some space for Charnley,at the moment when gets the ball his first thought is to try and score himself by just going straight for the corner,he needs to watch some dvd's of last season and see just how Gleeson plays.

He went off didnt he? Anyone know if he was injured or just being rested?

Spot on. At the minute he is running Charnley out so Charnley has to come on the inside. He just needs to learn to run straight and draw his man as you say so that he can pass to Charnley with space on the outside.

Only a small criticism though, he is playing well there and this is an improvement in his game that will come the more he plays there. I'm sure it's not gone unnoticed by the coaching staff.

Yeah totally agree, needs to straighten up when the overlap isn't there. But in fairness Charnley could also go back inside, like he did for the score against Saints last month. I like Joel at Centre though, I think it's working well and I reckon he can become a strong and classy player there. Just needs patience, it's a brand new position for him. He's been here since 2003 and has certainly never played that much at centre apart from bit parts in recent times. Overall though him and his winger are getting over the whitewash, which wasn't really happenign with Marsh and Goulding so.....

Any idea why Joel went off?

Good job I couldn't get the last try bet on

he's starting using his brothers superglue

i thought he played well.......switched sides...tackles like a tiger, took the ball up like a forward....and the running on his own takes hell of a lot out of the oppo tacklers.....the centre and winger on his side were both knackered by half time.
watch the best centre in superleague...kieth senior........he runs diagonally across his winger a lot......its a ploy for tiring out the opposition winger,.
Joel will go on to make that position his own imo.

I wouldn't say Keith Senior is the best centre in Super league

Maybe not the best but he's up there with them. If it wasn't for his off field issues and you ignore the number on his birth certificate I'm sure he would still be a certain pick for England every time. If I was Joel Tomkins wanting to learn super league centre play I would be watching loads of Keith Senior footage.

I think alot of tompkins at centre, and it must be remembered that he has only played a few games there. More importantly he has only played 4 games as a centre partner to charnley and both are learning there trade. so as previous posters have said this is a work in process and as both players play more with each other and learn about each other then I believe this partnership will only get stronger. We might have to wait another year however to see the benifit of the move but at the moment I for one are more than impressed.

The ball seems to be going to Joel in an attacking position more than it did when Gleeson was centre. Looking at Gleeson's stats in his first few games for Hull his involvement was quite low, perhaps he should change his aftershave.

I agree Senior would be the perfect model for Joel but he is way past international rugby now and has played a season too long IMO.

Senior is now very average and is getting caught out in defence pretty often but he's been a super player in his time. He's the best centre in the history of superleague IMO because of the quality he's produced over such a period of time and if Joel can produce a similar level of consistent performances we'll be very lucky indeed.

He's capable aswell.