I wouldnt class them as legends either though.

Sam already tops the league for tackles bust and clean breaks. Plus he's only 40 meters behind the top meter maker in the competition, James Roby, who's made 26 carries more than Sam.

And already Roby has scooted from dummy half 82 times

in three games.

He steps out of dummy half a lot though. Most good hookers do as it adds an extra man to the attacking line. So it's little wonder he makes so many runs from dummy half.

Kenny not a legend? I am sure many old timers would disagree with you on that one.

Kenny and Ferguson both legends for me. Its not the length of time at the club or games played but the impact they had. When I saw Ferguson i wondered what we had signed but when he got the ball anything could happen. Kenny was all class

If you wouldn't class Brett Kenny or John Ferguson as legends then I really dont know what you actually would class as a legend.

Im sorry Brian, but your McIllorum V Roby arguement I just cannot agree with at all, as much as id love to.

Roby is world class, id swap them in a heartbeat.

I wouldnt, id have them both

Roby is an extremely good player and i think MM could be as good as Cunningham/Newton have been in SL

Not a chance for mine. Cunningham is the best hooker I've ever seen. Roby will have to go some to be as good as him.

I'd argue that Cunningham is the best player ever to play in SL.

Time will tell, personally I think Mickey Mac is a GOOD hooker but I cant see the skills in his game to ever put him in the same bracket as Newton or Cunningham, look at how much Saints used to miss Cunningham before the Roby days, he was the complete player, can you honestly say we will miss McIlorum like that?? As I said though, time will tell.

I think with the right coaching he could be as good but as has been said, time will tell

It's the style rather than the player, and if you remember I used to have the same arguments with many on here Dave O in particular when we had Higham. As I've posted on the Saints site last year Saints with the scooter hooker you wouldn't believe that a team who ran a record 1208 times from dummy half, with one player a record 778 dummy half runs would score less tries than they have done for ten years.

Now go back and check what happened at Wigan when Higham came and then what happened when he left.

I'd love Roby at Wigan but I'd still want Mickey Mac, and I'd move Roby back to loose forward at some stage in the game. He has a fantastic engine and work rate.

At 19, I will hopefully be doing exactly this in about 40/50 years time. Reminiscing about the great Wigan RL players I've seen in the past and Tomkins will be the first name that springs to mind. Sam Tomkins is the first player I've seen progress from an unknown kid in our academy to a truly world-class Wigan player who is currently the best player of his generation and a future hall of famer. I've never seen a player have the ability to do the things he does on a rugby field without having to watch an old video of the players you've mentioned.

It's a real privilege to watch him play RL. The fact he is a Wigan player - that's just a bonus.

Depends what you mean by "legends". They're legends of rugby that turned out for Wigan for a season, as opposed to Wigan legends like Edwards and Boston who spent their careers here harvesting winners medals. Call it nit-picking if you want but there's a difference for me

Thing is though, Roby isn't just a "scooter hooker" is he? He's a complete hooker, his intelligence around the ruck is second to none and he his distribution is top notch, he also has a good kicking game when needed.

Well many of the players that I would class as Wigan legends have already been mentioned on this thread, people like Boston, Sullivan, Edwards, Gregory, Hanley etc. These are players that played for Wigan for the majority of their careers and played their best Rugby at the club. Players like Kenny and Ferguson, whilst outstanding players, played half a season and played the vast majority of their careers at their Australian clubs and someone like Kenny for me is a Parramatta legend, not a Wigan one. I simply dont consider players like that to be Wigan legends or indeed worthy of being classed alongside players that played here for years and in some cases devoted themselves to the club.

Like I said on the MOM thread, if any other player has had a more successful and eventful first 100 games I can't think of them.

Also Sam continues lead the table for tackles bust and clean breaks. Plus he's now only one behind Rangi Chase in try assists, and he's closed the gap on Roby on meters made, being only 15 meters behind with 32 less carries.

I honestly hope Sam goes to the NRL at the end of this three years. I'd hate him to go to rugby union as I would any RL player but Sam's too good for the Super League. He was making defenders look like complete morons yesterday.

If he does his three years that would mean we've had him for half of his career - and the younger half when he will be most effective. He'll leave at the end of it and looking at his situation with common sense, I'd do exactly the same thing if I was in his shoes irrespective of how big of a Wigan rugby fan he is.

I was saying the same last night when I was watching the tries on Sky Sports. If he ever was to go anywhere, I would definitely prefer it to be to the NRL not RU. He would be absolutely wasted in RU. I can't think of a position where he would fit in.

It would pain me to watch Sam Tomkins playing Union his talent would be largely wasted as he watches aerial ping pong and forward collapsing in scums, he's was born to play rugby league and losing him to the NRL would be a positive compared to a Union move.

Do we have to have the Sam doom and gloom every time he plays well. We should enjoy him while we have him and hope he stays with Wigan as long as possible. So what if he is too good for SL and makes defenders look silly, as long as he's doing it in the Cherry and White, that's all that matters. Time everyone put the white flag away regarding the possibility of a move in the future. Sometimes these threads make me wonder if a lot of Wiganers need something to moan about. We should be celebrating his talent rather than worrying about 'what ifs'.

Great player, but a close second behind Faz IMO.

Top post.

It was fantastic watching this kid develop into the best player in SL and one of the best players in the world. He was talked about as being a great prospect, but the way he has fulfilled his potential is superb, and the fact that he is a Wigan lad makes it all the more special.

And what a player he has become! There seem to be so few flair players around these days, game breakers who turn a match with a moment of sublime skill - the game is so fast and defences so tight these days.

The fact that Tomkins does things that the great players of old did, that he seems to have as much time on the ball as the greats of yesteryear did, even in the age of full time professionals and very well organised defences tells you everything you need to know about this lad and how very special he is.

I said on this and other boards a season or two ago that I thought Tomkins could be as good as Hanley and possibly even surpass the great man.

I was ridiculed by many; others became angry at my rugby blasphemy (annoying, because I didn't say this lightly, Hanley was an amazing player, a significantly better player than say Farrell, Cunningham and Jason Robinson).

Since then though what I've seen from Tomkins has made me confident that I'm right. This lad is going to be a legend (if he isn't already).

We are lucky he is in RL and even more lucky that he is a Wigan player.