I agree with your general point about the declining quality of NRL imports. However I think that you underestimate Luke Walsh's standing in the NRL. He was above average, even if not outstanding in the manner of Cherry Evans, Cronk and the rising super star Luke Brooks. I think that Walsh's move to Super League was a matter of St Helens offering him a better deal than Penrith was offering.

Tomkins MoM in a great win for NZW at the Storm.
Settled in and starting to look the business now.

I thought Sam was lucky to get the MoM ahead of Shaun Johnson, who was absolutely brilliant. But Sam did play very well and was one of the best three players on the field. He is definitely starting to look the business now.

he is a class player.anyone with an ounce of common sense knew he would eventually find his feet over there.hopefully this is the start of a hot run of form for him and the Warriors.

Tomkins is getting there but the Warriors are still playing far too flat to get the best out of him from full back.

I thought that Mike Cooper did well again for St George-Illawarra, even though his side was beaten by the Sydney Roosters. The commentators refer to him as the "big Englishman."

Andrew Johns noted that Cooper was not a starting player for Warrington, but that he had backed himself to succeed in the NRL, which is very impressive.

Jean, your superstar mate played for Newtown again. They got smashed at home.

James Graham was outstanding again for Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Probably deserved MoM.

But Graham and Tomkins got into a bit of an altercation in the first half, which almost led to punches (which if it had would have resulted in one or two red cards). Andrew Voss was talking about an English civil war.

Tomkins was OK but Graham was outstanding, and scored a try to top it off.

Yesterday Gareth Widdop and Mike Cooper, along with Josh Dugan and Brett Morris, were about the only players who played well for St George.

Sam Tomkins played well today for NZ Warriors. His linkups with the outside backs, involving timing his runs and slick passing, are excellent. Case in point was the last try by Konrad Hurrell.

Put that try down to Johnson, an oustanding quick pass right at the line to bring tomkins into play, from there all tomkins had to do was draw and pass.

Mixed bag from Tomkins, some decent link up play in attack but also some handling errors.

Tomkins is doing pretty well in the nrl aso far but when you look at all the other quality fullbacks and some of the things they produce he doesn't stand out as anything special, just an above average decent player.

When you think of how much he used to dominate super league it's another reminder of the quality of the nrl.

I think Tomkins has done quite a few special things already. Sure, when compared with Hayne and Inglis, he's not in their league, but nobody else is either. I think he stands tall in the next group though, which still makes him very good. If he can cut down on his errors, he may even nail down the 3rd best spot in time.

I would be looking for Tomkins to nail down 4th or 5th spot, not 3rd, in the future. After all there is Hayne, Inglis and Slater as well taking up the first tier. And let's not forget Brett Stewart, who is a little out of sorts at the moment.

Not the case. Penrith are contributing towards Walsh's salary here at Saints. Our coach and chairman pulled off an astute piece of business. Luke Walsh is exactly the kind of half we needed - an organiser with a good kicking game. He's a perfect fit for us. A peach of a deal and I hope he stays. He is a classy player.

So, of all the poms playing in the NRL, who can we consider the best?

Graham, Burgess(s), Widdop or Tomkins?

In this order I'd take S. Burgess, G. Burgess, Graham, Tomkins, Widdop.

James Graham.

I think Sam is still clearly the best, which is a shame, since he's leaving. George and Graham are so different, it is hard to compare, but I would probably take George at the Raiders if given the choice. Graham is worth so much to the Dogs though.


Fair call. I did forget Slater, who proved not only in Game I, but in his last few appearances for the Storm, he is certainly not done yet. Easily QLD's best last Wednesday. Picked out Beau Scott all night and got him all but for the attempt after the 80 minute siren.

Tomkins has done fairly well so far but as someone else pointed out, he's just a decent full back in the NRL, not the superstar he was in SL. He's made plenty of errors too. I'm a Tomkins fan but always questioned whether his ability to shine would be stifled in the NRL with their faster, more agile and more intelligent defences and so far that seems to largely be the case.

Sam, George and Tom were outstanding for Souths this morning. Very few defences can handle them when they get a roll on and they ploughed deep furrows through St George all game, with some huge tackles from Sam. I don't care if he's going to yawnion, we need him until the day his RU begins.

All the English lads are doing fantastically so far. Mossop was 18th man for the Eels this week and has been told he'll get his shot when one of the current first team players in his position can't play.

In my opinion James Graham has been the most consistently good English player in the NRL this year. He’s one of the Bulldogs senior players and is very important to them. He never seems to be anything but excellent.

Sam Burgess is also very good too and almost on a par with Graham. George Burgess is very good too but doesn’t play the long minutes of Sam Burgess or James Graham as he’s more of an impact player.

I’d say they’re the top 3.

Tomkins has taken time to find his feet and has had to come into a side that isn’t as good as the Rabbits or Bulldogs. Early on in the season the Warriors were woeful but since McFadden took over they’ve improved. I think he’ll get better but he’s in a more exposed position than all the other imports so an average game from him looks worse than it would from a forward.

I thought Widdop looked excellent early on but the Dragons have struggled lately and the Marshall sideshow won’t help them. Like all halfbacks he does better when the forwards are on top and St George have struggled at times in that department. He’s also not had a consistent halfback partner of any real quality. I’m not sure Marshall is the answer either with him being so off the cuff.

I think Cooper’s done well without being spectacular. Same as Luke Burgess. I expect Mossop to do alright too. I look forward to seeing him in action.

I think the way the warriors play and how they utilise Tomkins is one of the main reasons why he's less effective in the NRL than in SL. We've seen very little of his running game because of a much more flat attacking line than at Wigan, and he doesn't get his hands on the ball anywhere near as much. He's basically being used as a 3rd halfback, if they want to get the most out of him then they need to set up their plays so he has more time on the ball out the back.

Yeah, Tomkins was the focal point of the attack at Wigan yet at the Warriors he has a different role as a wide playmaker. He’s not put into as much space (there’s less anyway in the NRL) and so is never going to look as effective as he did over here.

I think since Hurrell got in the side he’s linked up better every week and Warriors dropping Fisiiahi and Neilson has helped as they’ve been poor. He must have a pile of assists already this year.

I think also he’s found it hard to link up with Johnson who’s difficult to read and Townsend who’s not very good.

We saw a bit more of his running game when Leuluai was at 6, I don't rate Townsend either.

Also to put his errors in perspective, ST has made 14 in 12 appearances, Slater has made 10 in 13, Inglis 11 in 11 and Hayne 16 in 10.

Agreed.

The Warriors use Townsend on the left, Johnson on the right, with Tomkins slotting into a halfback position on either side when he can. Completely different to how Wigan used him to finish off moves, for the Warriors he's more of a play maker.

I guess Wigan fans probably noticed, but I didn't know his hands were as good as they are. Some sublime touches so far this year.

A few mistakes and a couple of games where he's not quite been on it, but generally he's getting better and better.


The Burgess lads were awesome against St George. Graham too has been brilliant.

We can produce great players, even if they play in aus, long as they keep up that form for England and we can partner them with our best SL (not just McNamaras faves) we should do really well for abit of time too bad sam is off to union.

Graham's by far the most consistent. Great go forward and great hands for a forward. Sam's obviously talented, but unfortunately he'll leave league with his job still largely unfinished. If George can up a bit of his game time, he'l be a monster for Souths and England/GB.
Tomkins' major problem is Johnson. As has already been touched upon, he's too much of a maverick. It looks like he's going to get Tomkins involved in the play then goes off on his own. SIMO it looks like Sam's talent is being wasted a little at the moment...
Widdop's a good'un, but needs to be playing behind a pack with the upper hand. Still a shoe-in for the 4 Nations, mind...