Slater is 28 years old, he is in the prime of his career. He plays in a better team which is even better coached than Wigan are. He has played 17 times for Queensland and 17 times for Aus. He has played at the highest level throughout his career.

Tomkins is still only 23 and has very little experience compared to slater. Slater wasn't this good when he was 23.

Tomkins is the second best FB in the world right now, he has the potential to be the best in 5 years time.

I would love to see Tomkins save some try-scoring opportunities like Slater does.

We may never find out if he is "world class" week in week out in the nrl but he is without a doubt a cut above anything in this hemisphere

It's impossible to compare the two when they play in massively different competitions at any age.

Yes he was.

Tomkins is an outstanding player & generally tore us to shreds last night.
If he was in a Leeds shirt we'd all be worshipping him in the way the Wigan fans do.
However, he was shown up twice failing to deal with the only 2 decent high bombs that Sinfield put up all night.
In the NRL he would be peppered with these as is Billy Slater who on occasions is also pretty poor at dealing with them.
He will also suffer this when playing for England in the next 4 nations tournament.
We'll also discove that the Aussies generally are umpteen times better at tackling than the Rhinos were last night.

Such a shame we decided to immediately abandon the tactic!

Totally agree.

Was Hanley better than Lewis? Was Andy Greg better than Langer? Was Offiah better than Jason Robinson? Is Roby better than Cam Smith? To ask if Tomkins is better than Slater can never be answered!!! Both players are devestating attacking runners that can do things others players cant. Its what makes them both stand out from other players and no matter what defence they come up against they'll always do something special. If Tomkins's tries have come from bad defence, then have Slaters tries also come from bad defence?....surely not cause he plays in th NRL. The reason they play so simular is because the teams they both play for, play to the same structure. Melbourne have been playing the same way ever since they saw the potential in Slater and Wigan are doing exactly the same with Tomkins. When Madge McGuire came to Wigan, Wigan began perfecting the Melbourne structure, ie....forwards running a flat attacking line and running angles, then the halves lieing deep using them as a foil for Tomkins to chime in....exactly like Slater does. Lets just hope McBannana plays to this structure with the England team instead of playing like the old Bradford team of 5 drives and a kick tactics!!

As good as Tomkins is in attack he is dreadful under the bomb.

If he can't resolve this soon then he will have to change position. Not that his lack of ability under the bomb will affect his or his teams ability in the super league.

In the NRL or Internationals he will be found out.

He's far from dreadful under the high ball, he was just off on Friday. Perhaps when we play Leeds his confidence is rocked because he knows if you concentrate on the high ball you'll probably cop an elbow to the face.

I have to laugh at fans questioning Sam Tomkins as a bloke. I have been in his company numerous times through family and hes an absolute gent. One of the nicest people you could wish to meet.

Tomkins

Class

Have to agree with Old fella on most points but Sam is way above anybody else in our leagues. It always come hard to say it but wished he was playing for us, just admire the talent when it's there. All great players have that bit of niggle and confidence and if he was playing for us he would be best thing since sliced bread wouldn't he? Only hope some of our young crop blossom like he has.

Tomkins is pure class better than anything we have at the club.
Reminds me of Harris at his peak.
He seems to fall for the wind ups both the Leeds fans and players give him at HQ and he needs to curb that.
As for saying he misses the bombs incase he gets an elbow in the face is laughable.
If that is the case and I really hope it isn`t. His career in RL is practically finished.
Do you think the likes of Morley stopped running into the tackle just in case there was another nob lifting his elbow to Morley`s face?
Tomkins is class and long may it continue in SL.

Absolutely!!!

He reminds me of Edwards in that way - cocky on the field, and absolute gem off it.

He's a white Benji

I can feel a song coming on....

The more I see of Tomkins, the more I'm impressed. Off the field he comes across as well-balanced and genuine. I don't really care too much about his petulance on it as it's easily outweighed by the entertainment he brings. Sometimes you've just got to look beyond minor shortcomings that manifest in the heat of the game and admire the talent.

Or maybe a flag

Don't know why people slate Tomkins so much...oh yeah, jealousy and fear.

I love watching the mighty Rhino's do well but soon after puberty I realised I enjoy watching the best of rugby league even more. Tomkins is one of these and is a different class to the rest of Super League.

As for Friday night, he kicked out at JJB, we see this from Webb loads. The tackle that bent JJB, Tomkins was at the bottom. It was McIllorum that was in the wrong. People need to realise that constant criticism wil play on the minds of stars such as Sam when it's contract time. We should be making sure they stay in our game. All for banter but the South Stand idiots need to realise the line.

Without a doubt he's calmed down the last few years.

I doubt it'll have any bearing whatsoever.

When he goes to either the NRL or to play RU I imagine fans comments will be an irrelevance when compared to the new challenge or £ signs that awaits.

Sam is class.

Huge fan. Hangs back and he knows exactly when to pick up the ball on the fringes and that blind pace gets him away from all it seems. We all know what he's going to do. But stopping him seems the impossible task. Different class.

I've been watching Tomkins quite closely this past couple of years to see what makes him so different and it seems to be a combination of 3 things.

1. His ability to know which gaps he can fit through and which he can't
2. This is his greatest attribute - his ability to make you think that he is 4" nearer to a defending player than he really is. This is what makes him so slippery. He tends to react to a defender a split second faster than any other player in SL.
3. His ability to change direction at top speed. This is in noway a unique attribute but when combined with the previous 2 attributes makes him the player he is.

He is also adding a new dimension to his game as a lure to pull in the extra defender, this is why Josh Charnley has the points tally he does.

There's still an element of his game that I'd wish he'd cut out though - little rat boy.

With all this talk of getting found out on the international stage, was I alone in thinking he was brilliant in the first game against the Aussies at Wembley last year? He may well struggle to play behind a beaten pack and lesser halves, but so would anyone. Had he been fed the ball by Lockyer and Thurston on the back of some quick play the balls and good go forward, who knows what he might have accomplished.

One thing we will need to do to make him effective against Australia is find a threat from somewhere else. In the 4N final last year the Aussies had clearly concluded that they could safely focus their efforts on shutting Tomkins down, secure in the knowledge that there was no spark coming from anywhere else. You don't have that luxury against Billy Slater. Although it will be interesting to see how Lockyer's boots are filled in the next few years, but Thurston will be around a while yet.

4. Nearly always takes the right option when in space.
5. Has a drill of a fend which will get rid of any defender who is not 100% in the right place to tackle him. (See Grand Final try 2010)

Tomkins is a world class rugby league player with pace and vision.

Does he milk certain situations of course he does if it where a Leeds player we would applaud this aspect.

We should also give credit to the timing and skill of those players around him that create opportunities for him.

The set move of two dummy runner forwards outside the first receiver, who force defenders to oppose them thus creating the space for Tomkins to run into, also deserve a mention.

It has to be timed to perfection otherwise it could be called has shepherding or obstruction.

In stark contrast our attacking line is often very niave and relies on individual breaks. Rarely do we create space or confusion.