on is call up to the senior england squad

well deserved 2nd best fb behind tomkins england has

and some people on here were scratching their head last year when we announced his signing saying that TS was mad to put him at FB - Another TS masterpiece

IN SMITH WE TRUST!

*Gareth Widdop

widdop is a 7

^ well he's been playing 6 actually not 7. And he started off as a full back and played there for Melbourne last week with slater out. He can play at 1,6 or 7, but mainly plays at 6.

Played his junior rugby at fullback and I'm certain he debuted for England at in that position, he's still the second best English fullback despite not playing there full time for the Storm.

i'd say he's the best england fullback personally.

As an all round player in defense and attack I'd agree Widdop probably is the better fullback but Tomkins is a much better rugby league player.

He's not as good as Tomkins at fullback. He's nowhere near the attacking threat from fullback that Sam is, and his defence is no better. But I think Widdop is a better 6 than fullback, he's easily the best English 6.

Sorry for the derail actually, Ratchford is a fantastic player and I'd have him at Wigan in a heartbeat. The fact he can play anywhere in the back line to a very high standard is probably the most impressive thing about him.

In attack there isn't a better English player than Sam Tomkins but as an all round fullback Widdop has all the assets.

And Sam doesn't?

Sam would be awesome if he had Lee Briers Brain!!!

Sam would be awesome if he had a brain.

Sorry but Sam is awesome. And most definitely has more brains than most in SL.

Lol indeed.

I mean, it's lucky for most professional players that you don't need to be intelligent to be a good RL player.
Can't tell if it's a trolling attempt or not, but Sam clearly has a fantastic rugby brain and seems like a reasonably smart lad off the field too.

He can play the game, anybody can see that. No idea is he's thick or not but his performances on SuperLeague Supermen are terrible. He'll need to work on that when he goes to Union, much higher profile.

True, he's very wooden on that show

It'll be right, they'll have him on the Ex-Wigan Fast-Track©, as endorsed by Jason Robinson. Tha'knows t'lot in nor' tahm.

I was one of them people, didnt know why we wanted him, where we would play him Etc.

But I can honestly say he has been Brilliant in each and every position we have played him in and he shows more and more every game.

Superb Signing TS

Good to see the work put into Salfords academy set up paying off.

aye, that daniel holdsworth is a gem, you should try and keep hold of him if you can, unlike that andrew dunneman you produced, or that gavin clinch, or that garen casey for that matter.

Thought this was a thread about Ratchford.

You were the one who brought up Salford's academy petal.