You'll find Tomkins has picked up Man of the match awards against Leeds and St Helens live on Sky this season, so he obviously has ''turned up''.

In regards to the 'broken field runner'. That's totally wrong. He can create breaks and opportunities from even the most stubborn of defences, that's why he's been selected and Burrow/Pryce haven't.

Yeah, cos Stevo isn't at all biased towards picking young English halfbacks



Fair play to the kid IMO he is head and shoulder above Eastmond and Myler as a half back just a long way off from being the finished product. Just think he could do with a full season being no. 1 playmaker at Wigan before using him for England - could be bad for his development.

It would be less of an issue if he were a big unit forward or an outside back where the game is more straightforward, mind. Thats why Eastmond should play centre IMO

Regardless of who Stevo picks, his performances were good enough to even be considered for MOM.

Whether he needs a full season as no.1 playmaker at Wigan or not, that's another issue. The simple fact of the matter is that form suggests that he is currently the best stand off/halfback in this country at the moment, and that can't be overlooked because he's 'inexperienced'.

He HAS stepped upto Super League
He HAS stepped upto 'Big games'
He HAS stepped upto international RL (hatrick and MOM on debut)

It would be stupid not to play him.

If you believe that your a bigger fool than Stevo.

Wigan have only had two big games this season and Tomkins was exposed or dealt with in both.

Beating a bunch of NL players hardly is stepping up at international level. Lets see how he does against the antipodeans.

Way to lose the argument.

Way to side step my cogent points

One 'cogent' point is wrong. You're suggesting that league games against the top two teams in the competition (one being our local rivals) aren't big games. Which is just a ridiculous.



And the other isn't a point at all, in fact it proves why he should be selected as he starred in a game against NL opposition as expected and showed no evidence why he shouldn't be picked.

Who will do a better job than Tomkins in the halves?

Well that's the big question. Personally I'd have gone the Burrow and McGuire but we don't lose much by having Tomkins instead of Burrow. I just don't think either Tomkins or McGuire are good enough to worry Australia.

McGuire is imo, and Tomkins will be in a few years.

I'm not so sure, McGuire's "ok" at test level but not at the level of a Marshall or a Thurston. Tomkins has [proved he can play well in SL but it's a big step up to do it in the tests versus NZ and Australia.

Imo

6. Tomkins
7. Myler

Is the future but not for 4/5 years.

I agree that Tomkins isn't the finished article yet, but McGuire is the best Half we have by a country mile.

I think Tomkins is better than McGuire but McGuire has shown he can play well on big occaisions, something Tomkins has yet to consistantly prove.

It's a tough one.

Yes, and that is why he should get the chance. Because it's a big step up. Let's see if he can rise to the occasion. If Eastmond gets to play, I know he will. I'd like to think that Tomkins would as well.

I think long term, Eastmond may be a FB or 6 but I don't think he'll make it as a 7. But that'sjust my opinion.

If anyone saw Myler's "performance" in the Wales game, they'd probably choose McGuire and Tomkins to play 6 & 7 (either way around). Both have played 7 before, so no reason to not pick both. Tomkins IMO played his way into the team and deserves the chance based on that Wales match. Myler was crap and shouldn't be picked. He's got plenty of time to play in the future, but IMO you should earn the spot, and Tomkins did exactly that.

As far as Eastmond goes, play him in the centres. Played there plenty for Saints at the end of the year and we're short of quality centres in the squad.

I'd love to see that. Give him a shot, see what he can do. Might take the Aussies by surprise.

The 5'6" Eastmond against the 6'5" Inglis? It's an anagram but a bloody stupid one. He's as much a centre as Shaun Edwards was in the 80's.
IMO Eastmond is the most talented of a decent bunch of HB's, but I'm not sure he's ready yet. It smacks of trying to stop him buggering of to the dark side.

Or alternatively we could play Lee Smith, who's also a dwarf. Or Shenton, who has been invisible both times he's played for England this year, even against crap like France and Wales.

Good job we've got Sykes as back then

You'll notice I deliberately left him out of the mention

The same Lee Smith who is 4" taller than Eastmond & played well against Aus last year? Don't get me wrong, IMO Smith is not the answer but he is a better centre than Eastmond, but not a better player.

He's still small compared to Inglis, so it's not really any different. When you say he played well against Aus, in which position was that again?

As is James Graham. As I said, Smith is not our centre solution, but neither is a HB with only 5 first class games in that position.

Yeah but I'd rather not pick him in the centres either

Rumour is he might, what with O'Loughlin injured.