Yeah, cos I mean your fullback is huge, just remind me how many games he had in the nrl?

At last some of our fans are realising that Phil Clarke was right.

About.....

I dont honestly think anyone has ever doubted his ability, its just his attitude that gets on peoples backs! The kids a class act just needs to pass more as already stated.

As for NRL I think give him another year or two and he could well ne good enough at the minute I have question marks over him as a fullback.

Quite a few. No-one's even mentioned Billy Slater yet. Much smaller than Sam and Brett, but very successful in the NRL. You don't have to be that big. Alan Langer and Peter Sterling weren't exactly giants were they?

Size never seemed to hinder Brett Hodgson.
Think Sam would do well over there.

He may be an annoying little g1t but let's be honest, we'd love for him to be in our team.

Looks great at SL level, but needs to improve his international reputation come October/November. He didn't exactly shine when he went down under, last year. If he does well, I can see a huge offer being dangled in front of Wigan

he's an excellent player... and wigans best by quite some distance.

You only had to see how toothless they looked in attack without him against bradford last week.

Size means nothing if you can play, anyone aware of Preston Campbell?

Funny isn't it.

Why, what's funny...2 blokes looking at each other

is it because Hoffman's got his hand on a team-mate's shoulder, and he's saying to Hodgson
"ARE YOU LOOKING AT MY BIRD?"

I think the days of strong, athletic fullbacks like Belcher and Jack have long since past.

Fullback play changed significantly when Lockyer started playing. look at the current crop; Coote, Duggan, Gardner, and not forgetting Slater. All small guys with great pace, who look to attack when returning the ball.

Thanks Wire fans for some intelligent and constructive comments. Makes a nice change to read a thread without it descending to petty bickering and chaos as happens on most boards.

give it time.....

I don't think its size that would be a problem, its his decision making at times that could hinder him.

For instance he scored a good second try against HKR, but if you watch it back the Wigan winger had a stroll in to the line if Tomkins had passed.

Also he is devastating in broken play, but NRL defences are so much better organised, and if he wasn't in a team with a dominant pack like Wigan, again he could struggle, as I think his split second decision making regards to when to pass and not, isn't great.

Nope, sorry he is still a little turd.

Mind you he isn't half as annoying as Phil Clarke.

Shut it..

Fixed.

Agreed. I can't really grumble when he comes up with the goods but pretty soon nobody will fall for those dummies.

i hate him but hes a great player and should play stand-off

Agree with this bit. Unless he learns to catch the high ball, he'll always have a massive weakness as a full-back. Think, long-term, he could be devastating at stand-off.

hes a little cheat

To be fair to Tomkins, a lot of the best (and a few average) halves used to have a little nastiness/niggle/irritation about them

Gregory
Tomkins
Goulding
Bishop
Holding
Edwards

I'm led to believe, a certain Mr Murphy could be a bit of a b'5tard in his day.

You really don't need to look much further than Briers. Although he's not particularly nasty, he ticks the other 2 boxes.

I think it's a prerequisite of a quality half.