How good is Sam Tomkins going to get? I think he has improved on last year and plays a much more rounded game of rugby league, but still throws in moments of absolute brilliance. For me, the second "juggle try" against Saints is up with anything I've seen from Wigan over the years for sheer wizardry. We've had our legends at Wigan - this man is one of them!

It's perhaps easy to become a bit complacent and take what he does for granted - well having watched Wigan for over 40 years now, I've seen a few "special ones" and I am enjoying every chance I get to watch this one play.

don't get me wrong, that one was great try but more down to his amazing pace

Yes, definitely. If you exclude the step, the dummy, the change of direction....

Aaaaaanyway, he skinned and humiliated Paul Wellens, which makes the try even more amazing.

surely you mean LESS amazing, even I could skin and humilate Paul Wellens

Who isn't skinning Slug Wellens? Hock did it. Even Finch did it in the Cup Tie.

He's a future captain of our great club.

I was ridiculed for saying a year or two ago that he could be as good as Hanley and that he might even turn out to be a better player, such are his natural gifts.

I stand by that. This lad has everything.

He's a level above Farrell and Robinson already: they were great players but he is even more special.

I'm not old enough to have seen Murphy or Boston but in my lifetime there's only Hanley that I've seen that is above him as a British player and in my estimation he is closing on the great man.

Tomkins is the kind of player that comes along only once every few decades. I sense that the tide of opinion has turned now and even non-Wigan fans (other than die-hard Wigan hating nutters) have put aside their envy of Wigan and are starting to appreciate the rare talent of Tomkins.

Wellens is the best fullback in the world according to our sky experts

Best I've personally ever seen play for our club in my 16 years watching the club. Not exaggerating, he's the most exciting player in world rugby for me at the moment along with Greg Inglis and Ben Barba

I rate Billy Slater as the best in the world, but I wouldn't swap Sam,for him or anybody at this moment in time.

Sorry if it's been said stopped reading at this post

Sam has not got 'amazing pace' he is quick dont get me wrong but there are quiet a few players in sl who are quicker than Sam

The problem for other teams and what makes Sam so good is his foot work and turn of pace of a standing mark which puts these faster players off balance and that is where he gets the edge, every coach in sl will have watched tapes over and over again of Sam but they cant do anything cause 90% of the time it's off the cuff even our players dont know what he's going to do

There's many players in the NRL who are better but I'm the same Sam is ours and he plays his heart out for us wouldn't have any one else over him, legend in the making.

That's my take on it. He's quick enough not to get caught from behind (generally), but he's not lightning quick. The difference is his change of direction and balance - nobody can keep up with it. He's also deceptively strong which helps him shrug off challenges.

As we all know he's a special player.

added to that is Sam's speed of thought process, he can spot a gap by the minute movement of the opposition defenders and react to it instictively. He beats defenders also by his own body movement, a drop of the shoulder or a swerve of the hips opens up a gap for him also.

I was out for a beer or three a couple of weeks ago at a well known real ale pub in Wigan. A member of our group, who like me has been watching Wigan a long long time said that Sam was the best fullback he has ever seen at Wigan. I thought about the likes of Tyrer, Fairbairn, Griffiths, Ashby, Lydon, Radders etc and do you know what, it's very hard to disagree with him.

So how come the Wigan fullback beats him every time? ^^

your asking the wrong person

boll0cks!!!

I'm tempted to agree, too, of the ones I've seen - though I never saw Jim Sullivan play. Several were better defensively, but in terms of their overall contribution, Sam's right up there, and he's still only a kid!

People always say there's better in the NRL without actually watching the NRL. As I said earlier, the only 2 alongside Sam at the moment for attacking ability are Barba, GI and Slater

There are literally only a handful of players in either code of world rugby who could have scored that 2nd try - absolutely world class.

There are a lot of people in the aussie media who love him and ex teammates like Barrett, Piggy and Hoffman have all talked him up but until he actually goes out there and does the business there will still be the typical arguments thrown back that he isn't in the same class as the Slaters, Marshalls, Thurstons etc but he definitely is. If we do have to lose him over the next 2/3 years it simply HAS to be the NRL, it would be such a tragedy to lose his talent from our sport altogether when he is still yet to reach his peak. Personally I hope he stays at Wigan forever, but with the way the salary cap is compared to other competitions I feel we have to be resigned to losing him at some point.

He also mentioned Martin Ryan along with all those names, but, as you say, its hard to disagree, Sam is a rare talent, 'freakish' ability, sit back and enjoy a great player, and (although most other fans wont believe this), a pleasant, like able, well mannered young man.

If you're not just including fullbacks then Shaun Johnson is up there as well in terms of amazing solo efforts.

Ahhemm!
I wonder who said that!



I worded it slightly different - I think he's as good as anything I've seen at Wigan (Going back to around 77) when taking into account a number of different aspects i.e Full time era, TV scturinisation of every game that's played.
Obviously Hanley would be the stand out but he was around 24 ish when we signed him and he really it his peak a couple of years later 26/27.

This young lad has just turned 23 for crying out loud!

As you say and as I was saying to my kids 12 months ago when the usual "Experts" around us were saying "He's Greedy", "He's not a fullback"

etc "This guy is sensational and when people tell you that Hanley didn't drop a ball or miss a tackle etc they're lying! Just give him a shirt and the ball and sit back and enjoy! Because at some point he won't be here and when he's gone you wouldn't expect another one to come along. Players like this guy pop up over here once in 20 years if your lucky"

When taking into account the things I mentioned above,Tomkins is at a level above Hanley In my opinion at the same age (Around the same time we signed Hanley) and I see no reason why that progress cannot continue.

Yeah forgot about him. Obviously, they have talent but can't see why Sam couldn't do the same if he was in the same comp