A few days ago, NRL.com had an article on Sam Tomkins assessing his first season in the NRL and what we can expect next year from him: www.nrl.com/how-good-is-sam-tomk ... fault.aspx Some interesting stats in there: Tries: 13 (joint 14th highest in the NRL) Try Assists 13 (joint 14th) Line-Break Assists: 18 (8th) Tackle Breaks: 108 (4th) Average Meters: 116.4m Missed Tackles: 36 (1.5 per game) Errors: 31 (top 10 in NRL) Definitely 'Rocks & Diamonds' as Andrew Voss said early on in the season. Will he be better next season? Is he on course to be a success in the NRL, or failure?

A few days ago, NRL.com had an article on Sam Tomkins assessing his first season in the NRL and what we can expect next year from him: www.nrl.com/how-good-is-sam-tomk ... fault.aspx Some interesting stats in there: Tries: 13 (joint 14th highest in the NRL) Try Assists 13 (joint 14th) Line-Break Assists: 18 (8th) Tackle Breaks: 108 (4th) Average Meters: 116.4m Missed Tackles: 36 (1.5 per game) Errors: 31 (top 10 in NRL) Definitely 'Rocks & Diamonds' as Andrew Voss said early on in the season. Will he be better next season? Is he on course to be a success in the NRL, or failure?

Don't we have an NRL board on here?

Thanks for the contribution.

FFS, this place gets worse.

You've complained about Union being discussed on the VT and I agree it should be on other sports so don't get all high and mighty when someone suggests that the thread you have started should also be on another board.

No, I really appreciate your thoughts. Even though the NRL board is completely dead, and Sam Tomkins being probably the highest profile English RL player at the moment, trying to make a success of himself in the toughest RL league int he world, and therefore being of interest to atleast some on here.

The whinge wasn't about Union being discussed at all, I've no problem with it being discussed on here as there's an awful lot we can learn from the way RU run their sport - it's the constant thread drifts and sh.it slinging from the same people, who's main method of winding people up is to throw RU statistics/comparisons wherever they can.

Anyway, this thread is fkd already.

I think he has been a success this year without being a star.
Next year I think he will improve further

Basically what happens on an un-moderated forum!

His performances in the NRL really confirm what most neutral observers outside Wigan and Sky Sports thought of him before he went. Not a world-beater, not going to transform the England team's results, but a very good player that can compete in the NRL, with some weaknesses in his game that I don't think he will ever lose.

Tomkins took the Club that was willing to pay the transfer fee and big salary.
It was a mistake IMO, the Warriors will never be consistently top performers.
Tomkins may well improve this year or he may go backwards.
He was certainly just one of the fish in the pond compared to his status in England.
He still makes too many errors and looks defensively weak in both the tackle and his reading.

If the Warriors looked like challenging at the end of the year I think he would be both watched as a danger player and targeted as a liability.
Sort of cancels out what he brings to a game.

He's very, very, very good at some things. Those things consistently ripped up SL. He did things many player (NRL included) couldn't.
Because of these qualities, Wigan soon build a lot around him which accentuated them.

Its harder in the NRL, but he's finding his feet. It's not as easy to rip up, even with his strengths. He's gone into a new setup which is not tailored specifically for him in the same manner. He's playing for a lower ranked club now so his defensive duties are likely tested more often - since these are his weaknesses, its will have more of an effect on peoples perception of his ability.

Is he a great attacking talent? Yes yes yes.
Is he England best alround fullback ? Up for debate, although certain club supporters will have fancied their man even before Tomkins left.

Spot on

Back at Wigan in 2016...

I still think he'll need to move into the halves eventually if he wants to go up an extra level. Whilst his deficiencies in defence are exaggerrated, he does have the habit of making an absolute clanger every now and then, and his running back with the ball simply isn't that good against a strong kick chase (although that could be improved if his wingers were able to give him options more often).

Our warriors wingers are built to take crash balls 5 meters out or to catch bombs/cross kicks......we did ok without the skinny turnstile.....hed be no loss if he left now

I thought Tomkins did ok in his first season. A bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes very good, sometimes reminiscent of Michael Platt at the Bulls. It takes time for players to get used to the demands of the NRL. Morley and Sam Burgess had mixed first seasons in the NRL.

I think he’ll go better than last year. He’s not there for his last line of defence but as a creative force out wide. I thought his combinations with Hurrell were great and he made a lot of tries with his contribution. I actually think he could be better if used a bit more intelligently but the occasional off the cuff style doesn’t allow that.

I think the Warriors lack a decent halfback partner for Johnson. I’m not sure Tomkins is the answer but I don’t rate Townsend (too slow and ponderous). If they could get Foran that could be the making of them.

Michael Platt? That's harsh...

There were a few classic howlers at times. Laugh out loud stuff.

Even taking that into account I thought he did alright. It can be hard playing for a side that’s obviously below average quality in the comp. He looked better under the bomb for England than he did for the Warriors but I think that’s down to the better protection he got from teammates. In attack he certainly played a big part but again backs need a platform from the forwards and at times I thought the Warriors were lacking in intensity and got snuffed out up front.

He could be more effective if he was more powerfully built as he often half breaks a tackle but hasn’t the power to make a clean break – particularly on kick returns. I know nothing about conditioning so whether he could put weight on to help with that I don’t know.

Agree with all that. I think he's done alright especially for a still relatively young player. As mentioned the system at Wigan was setup in a way that played to his strengths. Whether that was deliberate or a happy co-incidence I don't know. Not to mention at Wigan he was in a team that generally dominated their opposition. Put Billy Slater in at full back for Widnes and he'd struggle in some areas.

I have no doubt he'll kick on and do better in 2015 after a pretty good 2014.

I hope the rumour of him coming back to Wigan in 2016 is true. A top player in our game is only good for the sport regardless of which team he's with and it keeps him out of Union's grasp for a few more years.

From what I've seen. He has proved he is more than good enough for NRL. I actually think there are better options at fullback for England but wouldn't want to leave him out the team

I'd have him in the halves alongside either Widdop or Smith, with Hardaker at full back.

Whoever we have in those positions I'd like to see us stick with them and try and build around them rather than chopping and changing. We don't get many games a year to play together as it is, changing the halves every few games doesn't help.

Yeah I was thinking the same.
Would be great if he was moved in the halves in nrl and started ripping it up.

He played a lot like a half in attack. Rather than used to finish off moves like when he was at Wigan, he'd chime in on either side with wither Townsend or Johnson. Some of his handling was top class.

I imagine the only reason he's Fb and not a half is because there are doubts about him defending in the line, full back takes him out of the line of fire to an extent.

Agreed he's a more natural stand-off than FB, and surely it'd be easier to protect him in defence there than at FB?

I think he may be targeted more by opposition attack this year.
He was an unknown quantity to some extent last year.
NRL Coaches will be looking to unpick his defensive frailties, he can not go one on one in defense with much confidence.
His reading of opposition attack is poor, he often turns up and hugs the attacker as the player is sliding over the line.

I think if he was in the defensive line, probably defending out at centre, he'd get ran at all game. They'd make good yards, the guys either side of him may start to drift towards him to help and taht'd create gaps, eventually he'd get tired out and lose some of his potency in attack. He looks really lighweight, and as we've seen, his technique isn't the best. Plus at 6, he's unlikely to be subbed for a breather, you want your 6 out there ideally for 80 minutes.

At FB he'd only really exposed to 1v1 tackling, which over the course of a game wouldn't happen too much.

FB also gives him the opportunity to run at broken fields after receiving a kick (if he catches it

).