You're on your own in that thinking pal!

Seen him yesterday for only the 2nd time but he looked a real talent. He was my mom after scoring a try and setting one up with a stunning break to turn the game in our favour. He also made about 2 or 3 breaks in the 2nd half.

In terms of how he looks/plays he's a stocky-ish lad and isnt the tallest. He's taller then Ainscough and looked to have good power. He's faster then Goulding and I'd guess similar to Charnley. He looked a confident lad willing to back himself and I think he'd thrive playing first team.

Matty Russell was official mom and looked another gem. He is rapid and has sensational footwork. He is brave as well and I loved how he ran in to space full tilt and shirked nothing. He looked very special and given time could give us a great option at fullback allowing Sam to develop back at 6. I love Sam at fullback and unless somebody could offer that same attacking threat I wouldn't want to move him but I truly believe this lad could.

Exciting times.

lets wait and see.....i recall IL saying an off season training up Joel would turn him into the next Keith Senior...that'll do for me

He's been "training" all season with no change.He's just as raw as a centre now as he was when he first started,and I don't see it changing with an off season I'm afraid.He's done the job he was asked to do, but we need a specialist centre for next season

The big question is who?

Thanks lets hope he gets his chance as this season MM has not given any new player a real chance compared to what happend last year.

Didn't Josh play centre when on loan at HKR last season, and do very well?

I didn't say I had the answer

Michael Jennings would do though

He did play centre and do very well, but not defensively from what I saw.

I will go so far as to say had Joel taken the pass of his brother we would be heading for the Grand Final.


He is a very talented player indeed, he just is not a centre.

main point is joel does NOT want to play centre

Agree with most on this.

At the end of the day, Joel is class at SR. Average at centre. Imagine how good Charnley would be with a natural partnering him? Imagine how much stronger our pack would be with Joel in it? Hopefully this will be the first thing the new coach changes.

Total waste of Talent. He is a superb second rower and runs some awesome lines. I cant understand why MM has been playing him at centre when Darryl Goulding could of done a similar job and whilst i dont think Goulding will ever be world class he is a solid player who wont let anyone down. This would of allowed us to have Hansen coming off the bench instead of Farrell or Tuson.

Goulding is gash.

Why offer him a new 3 contract then last year? IMO he would of done just as good a job as Tomkins at centre and wouldnt of let anyone down.

Well I'm not his biggest fan either but we would have been better served with Goulding in the backs and Joel in the pack rather than play both Farrell and Tuson together. I'm not sure either is good enough but, together, they just get blown away. Too lightweight.

Where do Gareth Ellis, Ben Westwood and Carl Ablett play these days then?

Gareth Ellis - YES
Ben Westwood - YES
Carl Ablett -

I'm sure he will be equally amused when he walks out in the quest to achieve his 5th Grand Final winners medal.

Whilst I was clearly being tongue in cheek, Ellis and Westwood > Tomkins. Fact.

Oooh so you can name a whole 2 english players better than him in that position. Lets keep him at centre, theres obviously no room left for him to be class and improve in the second row

Thanks for the input flower; duly noted your inability to read the original comment outlining him as the best British second row. He clearly isn't.

The point of the OP was that we are playing a great second row at centre. So what if hes not 'the' best? He could be, if we stop playing him at centre.

Yes, you know better than Michael Maguire.

Do you really think if there were any decent centres available then Maguire would have passed that opportunity and kept Joel there? Yet again you're missing the point, im not saying hes a rubbish centre, im not saying i know better than Michael Maguire, neither am I saying that Joel is the best second row ever, all im saying is that he is better at SR than he is at Centre.

If you recall, but i know it does not suit your argument, we had a problem earlier in the season with our first choice centre. JT stepped up and has done reasonably well. But he is not a centre.