I think he deserves a thread for his fantastic form this season. He's stepping out of the shadow of Sam in a big way and is matching him preformence for preformence(and is probably in better form to be fair).

He looks bigger, stronger, more agressive and his handling has been fantastic. His form at the minute makes him a nailed on cartainty for an England spot at the end of the season. He has skills that will trouble the best defences and also has huge pace which would suprise the Aussies and Kiwi's.

Our joint player of the season so far for me along with Famous Amos.

Superb.

cant aruge with that. we have a gem on our hands in joel tomkins

thought it was a toss up last night between JT and lockers

as you say , JT has been in great form all season so far , lets hope he stays injury free , because lets face it , he puts himself about a bit !

he's also won me a few quid

Its great to see him come into his own this season!! Lets hope he keeps it up!!

Those of you who regularly watch reserve / academy rugby will remember three or four years ago when Joel was playing there. He was just like he is now (albeit at that level) . He then got a bad injury and lost his confidence. The spell at Widnes did him good in that he knew what he was missing at Wigan.
Brian Noble, Shaun Wane and Ian Lenagan had words with him and told him what was expected of him if he wanted to stay at Wigan. Fair play to Joel, he knuckled down and is now becoming the player we all hoped he would.

I've said it before I wouldn't change Wigans back 3 (4) of Hansen, Tomkins, O'Louglin and Mossop for any other in the League, and just look how young they are.

I'm just really enjoying watching a pack jammed full of Wigan produced forwards at the moment.

All those you mention have been superb this season and will continue to improve and last night I thought both Prescott and O'Carroll were superb. It was easily Prescotts best preformence of the year and O'Carroll(bar his knock on) was fearsome. He looked bigger last night then he did at the beginning of the year and is as tough as nails.

Hopefully McIlorum can have some better luck and start producing the goods aswell.

Joel has been superb right from the first game. All credit to him for his hard work and determination in getting to that standard.

I think it was Phil Clarke mentioned last night on Sky as im just rewatching the game back now that Joel said it took him 50 apperances in the Wigan first team before he could play like he played for his amatuer team as it took time to settle in and get confidence at the highest level to do the stuff he used to do on a weekly basis.

Imo last night he was head and shoulders above the rest his work rate was second to none

If he keeps this up he will be in the england squad

Hes fastly become the better of the two IMO

COULD be world class in a few years

With Joel playing like this why would we need to look to bringing Hock back in? Joel has the same pace and strength as Hock and in a similar fashion to Hock he's managing to break through the tackle. He also has a very confident carry and good handling skills. He doesn't drop the ball and doesn't give away as many penalties as other second rowers. What an exciting player!

Oh and he filled in well enough at centre, much more of an attacking threat at centre than Bailey.

Because imagine Joel and Hock on the pitch at the same time - Awesome.

JT has really monstered it during the first third of the season, as have the other younger players who have siezed their chance this season.

We seem to be a more buoyant team than the quiet teams we've had as of up to last season. Confidence breeds confidence and I'm glad Madge is sticking to his guns of picking players on form, rather than reputation.

I agreed with the comparison to Dennis Betts on an earlier thread. On reflection he probably has more of the Simon Haughton about him. It seems he feels capable of bullying opposition players, no matter who they are, and looks like he'd run into a brick wall if it was put in front of him. A joy to watch this season!

Joel and Hock on the same field fills me with excitment and i'd imagine would fill other teams with dread.

They'd terrorise the opposition but it's a long way down the track yet.

He is on report from last night.

What was that for? will be be available to face saints?

Not sure.

There looked nothing in it at all but I was in the South Stand so who knows. If you can get away with the incident Morlye did before our game against Wire then you obviously have to do quite alot to be banned.

The report incident was suggesting that he intentionally dropped his knee on a Leeds calf in the tackle. Replays suggest that he didn't hit the leg and there was nothing in it. Just Ganson covering his backside.

I also think Lee Mossop has what it takes to join that list of players that can terrorize the opposition...the future is looking very bright, we at last seem to have the right blend of home grown and overseas talent

Punching holes all over the place last night wasn't he!

He is a huge lad and it's scary that he's only 20/21.

He's going to be some player.

Nevermind a good prospect, he is a good player here and now.

If he kicks on he could be a GB regular without a doubt. He certainly seems to have the right attitude for it.

Now if he could drill some of that into Hock, what a back row we would have..........

Can't wait to see his agression step up a level next week at Saints! He runs it in like every driver matters. O'Carroll deserves a mention for that same reason as well.

i was chatting to a bradford fan after our game there, and he was banging on about how much Joel had improved, and that he looked international class.

if opposing fans are noticing, he must be standing out.

and for me, iif he carries on improving i think we might have a contender for man of steel?

Good luck to Flanny who is taking his chance in Aus, but if Flan is impressing the Aussies whay would they (god forbid) make of Joel and Mossop?

Joel Tomkins is Brilliant.