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Inglis
Slater
Hayne
Milford
Moylan
Stewart
Dugan
Tomkins

Would be my FB ranking this season

I'd probably agree with Tomkins as 8th but not with your other rankings. I'd go with the following:

Hayne
Inglis
Moylan
Stewart
Milford
Slater
Dugan
Tomkins

Dugan's played more centre this season too.

I think those top FB are all pretty close though - I'd add Michael Morgan too on last year's showings.

All in all, I think Tomkins had a decent season and will get better. Thought he did OK in the Samoa match and definitely should stay at FB unless an injury forces out one of the halves and a reshuffle is needed.

...and Darius Boyd would also be a consideration when he overcomes his depression

Well, I'd still take Anthony Minichiello ahead of Tomkins even now.

Dugan only played six times at FB for the Dragons and not at all after May; Milford finished the season at stand-off for the Raders.

I'm surprised you didn't opt for Darius Boyd, Michael Morgan, William Zillman, Michael Gordon and Ben Barba as well !

Minnichiello had a great season. Put him in front of Tomkins too.

I think Tomkins is better than Morgan, Zillman, Gordon and Barba.

Clive Churchills widow looked good at the Grand Final why don't we posthumously put him in as well.

Tomkins is a class player who offers more than just a kick return

Any fullback who craps his pants with high kicks, shouldn't be considered in anything regarding "best of".

Unless by "best of" you mean defensively useless, then Tomkins would rank highly. He should be in the halfs and only there.

Of course I hate Tomkins, numbnut. That was why I said he should be in the halfs, no really........

One of the major skills required of a FB is the ability to catch a high ball - if you can't do that on a consistent basis you are playing the wrong position. Would you have a winger who had no basic speed?

It doesn't matter which club he plays/played for you cannot be considered the best if you cannot command one of the basic skills

If that's the extent of your understanding then I'll be happy to ignore anything you've got to add for the foreseeable future.

Billy Slater anyone?



Er . . Ryan Hall?

Billy Slater is generally excellent under the high kick, and wouldn't exactaly call Hall slow either.

Slaters got a long rap sheet where the high ball is concerned, amongst his other high profile brain farts. Australia should have dropped him 10 years ago using your logic.

Hall, for a winger, is not fast anymore. He's bulked up too much and doesn't have the speed at International level anymore 'yet' he's still one of the best finishers in the game.

What a poor response. To be honest, if that is all you are capable of coming up with to disagree, then you can keep it on ignore, as your view would mean nothing anyway.

Ryan Hall is plenty fast enough and I would bet he is in the fastest 3/4 over 60 metres in the whole squad

I'll add a lack of originality to the list of your deficiencies!

It's your money to lose!

I don't think he's as slow as has been made out but I'd be very surprised if he can beat Charnley and J.Burgess for pace, touch and go with S.Tomkins, Hardaker and Watkins too I'd have thought

Joel Monaghan is pretty slow for a winger, but he scores a fair number of tries

Avenger please. Sam Tomkins does not offer a kick return! Not so much in the S/L and practically not at all in the NRL.
Those aspects are, along with his poor reading of high kicks, possibly the worst aspects of his F/Back playing ability.

Sam's worth and this is indisputable, is his brilliant slotting into the threequarters and the majesty of his accurate and almost perfect passes.
At that he is practically peerless.
Brave to a fault, but as an outstanding F/Back he is way beyond all, certainly most,of those within the NRL mentioned by the others making their comparisons on here.

He made 1.3 errors per NRL game last year and missed 1.5 tackles. Given we finished outside the 8, that's not bad, especially when compared to the high flying roosters Minichiello who comes in at 1.6 and 1.3 in the same area.

He's not my favourite player by any means, he is very suspect under the high bomb and he's a luxury I don't think we needed at the NZ Warriors, but he's not the worst.

Slater's generally brilliant under the high ball. He makes mistakes, but at least he competes for them. He started putting his leg out in the air becasue opponents were trying to smash him as he got the ball, under the guise of going for the ball (something I don't think fullbacks are defended from enough).