Lee Mossop makes his debut for Parramatta off the bench this Friday. Looks like he will play second row.

Sam Burgess performance yesterday was impressive, ran over 100 meters in the first half alone, finished up on 192, the only other players to break 150 were Ben Creagh at 151 and George B at 182. Tom also chipped in with 143 meters and 21 tackles off bench.

I don't know why, but I have a feeling that a u-turn may be on the cards for Sam. Might be wishful thinking on my part, but there's a lot for Sam to accomplish in RL

That ship has sailed. Sam B may regret leaving but he won't back down.

I still think he mistakenly believed all the TV hype about how great it was to have SBW back in RL which was pushed ridiculously by Channel 9 and suggested that RL fans were happy for their stars to come and go to RU when and as they liked, when the fact is that a lot of RL fans here had had enough of RL players talking about moving to RU as though it is just the same as changing clubs.

Fifita made the same mistake too. Sam B may have suffered from being the straw which broke the camel's back in that regard, but hard luck.

One thing is for sure - I think San will hate playing Union. There just will not be the opportunity for him to do the workload he likes to do.

If he's playing in the backs, he won't be able to run the ball as often as he will want to, and certainly not trying to break the line. If he's in the forwards, he'll be lucky to touch the ball more than 10 times a game, and won't get the opportunity to make as many tackles - although he'll be involved in lots of pushing and shoving (which he seems to like nowadays anyway).

I just can't get away from the fact that a move to Union is a monumental waste of his talent. He is built for rugby league, he's got the wrong shape, speed and skill set to be a back in Union, and although he's the right build to be a Union forward, he's far too dynamic to be wasted rucking and mauling.

it was possible to walk there one time... up to about 10,000 years ago.

You can swim there from jersey fairly comfortably if your a half decent swimmer.

Lee Mossop was solid on debut, but knocked on close to his own line. It could have cost his team the game but it didn't.

Ray Hadley pointed out that the last English player to play for Parramatta was Chris Thorman, who now plays for a "lower division club" York at age 33.

Had to laugh, he also said they have had some good English players, and some really bad ones. Wonder who he meant?

another outstanding performance from sam burgess this weekend. ran for 191 metres, his brother george next best on 143. tom burgess did well do - 120 odd metres off the bench. 25 tackles from sam too. though it was against a poorish wests team. he'll be a loss for them next year (and the game). however tom looks like he is standing up to be counted and could end up a decent replacement for sam in the longer term. not sure where all of this leaves the other brother luke, who is still a solid reliable forward.

No doubt he'll return to RL in a few years with all the talent coached out of him as well. It's a shame.

He is a Thug, good riddance.

A thug???

Widdop and Mike Cooper both excellent in todays SGI victory.

Widdop is all class.

Mike Cooper has improved enormously since he has arrived in the NRL. This shows what playing in the NRL can do for a decent English player.

We need to get Kallum Watkins, Zak Hardaker, Darryl Clarke, Tom Lineham, Marc Sneyd, and Tom Briscoe down to the NRL as soon as possible.

The mathematician Ryan Hall is good enough as he is and can remain in England to help prop up Leeds Rhinos and to inspire some of the academy youngsters to follow in his footsteps.

Or we could flip it that a bog standard SL player has gone over and competed well against the super dooper NRL.

The NRL is a bigger and better league, but it's not as big a gap as some make out.

Keep these reports coming, as far as I am concerned. I don't get a chance to see them play on TV so it's good to hear how they are going on.

James graham had a mom game for doggies this weekend. The NRL commentators are in love with him!

he was great and really led the battle up front esp with tolman getting injured after 3 mins, but ennis was man of the match imo, several little bits of magic which decided the game

I kept my eye on Graham at Brookvale the other week as well as this weekend. He is an outstanding player. What he does off the ball is superb. His ball skills are amazing and not what people think of from a prop. having said that, if you talk to old australians, that's what they loved about the "pommie" touring sides of the 50s & 60s, was the big, tough props with skills far superior to their own.

He is one of the people that thankfully debunks the myth that the australian way is so superior in its coaching, conditioning etc. etc. He could have easily played 80. And was livid for being taken off for 5.

James Graham. 75 mins, 36 receives, 22 runs for 172m, 20 hit ups for 150m, 1 run at 1st receiver for 9m, 2 tackle breaks, 39 tackles, 1 missed, 0 ineffective tackles, 1 offload, 1 line break = class.

he was almost playing stand off at times, passes the ball more than any prop around, he's probably got a hidden kicking game too

Sam Tomkins had a brilliant game tonight against Parramatta, scoring 2 magnificent tries and setting up another for captain Simon Mannering after his own 30 metre run and break of the Parramatta defence line.

He took all the bombs kicked at him. But his attack was the best he has displayed in the NRL and equal to his best for Wigan. He was undoubtedly man of the match. Quite an achievement when you consider that Konrad Hurrell was devastating in attack and Shaun Johnson was also brilliant.

Sam Tomkins was outstanding this morning to out shine Johnson and Hurrell with the way they played is some feat in it self. Not sure if he officially got the man of the match but he deserved it and then James Graham was instrumental in the bulldogs win and he deserved the MOM as well.

In his attacking runs Tomkins was beating Parramatta Eels defenders on almost every occasion. In his first try he beat two men and then attracted two other tacklers but still managed to reach out and touch down as they brought him to the ground. In his second try the Warriors pack pushed the Eels pack off the ball after the Eels fed the scrum. In the chaos of this scripted move Tomkins ran through to pick up the ball and scored. Later, after he broke the Parramatta defence line with a weaving aggressive run, Tomkins ran 30 metres and then offloaded to his captain Mannering who raced 30 metres to score. Tomkins also made the extra man in a sweeping attacking movement that resulted in the Warriors' first try to outstanding young winger Fusitua.

If the NZ Warriors can continue to play the way that they played in their annihilation of the Eels they will be in the playoffs for sure (as of now they are 6th) and perhaps they could even make the Grand Final. If Tomkins can continue the form that he showed in the Eels match he will finally achieve the high respect that he has sought from the NRL fans and coaches. In his interview post match Tomkins looked chuffed.

Pity only 14,000 plus people were at the game, but it was a bit of a damp Auckland winter evening (Wigan weather as the Kiwi interviewer noted, or a Wigan summer evening as NZ Sky caller Andrew Voss joked).

posters who believe Jean C is trolling need to wake up and smell the coffee. It is pretty certain the the NRL will continue its raids on our shores fo rthe best talent.

The question is ... do SL have any ideas of how to keep its best players ?

Hard to tell how good Tomkins was from that game - the Eeels were very poor. It will do his confidence the world of good though.

What we haven't seen yet from Tomkins is a dominant display in attack combined with a mistake-free solid game in defence against one of the top teams. When he starts to do that he will have really turned the corner.