It's the same old story with Tommy. Yes he's a good RL player but he's not a 7! It's clear that without someone to carry him in the role he can't organise or kick. These are two of the main duties of a 7!

Barrett carried him when it came to organisation, so does Sam and Deacon. Time and time again it becomes evident that he's not a 7 when the duties fall on his shoulder alone.

So where do you play him? Not quick enough to play as a second reciever stand off, or anywhere else in our backs. Not big enough to play anywhere in our pack bar hooker.

I believe Tommy has the skills and understanding to become a great 9 in time, but let's faace it, he's never a 7.

Sam is causing us a headache for all the right reasons, he's outstanding at 1 and at 6, for me the way he picks his spots and attacks the line on an almost free role from 1 really makes him a threat, but as a 6 he can help organise and attack from the line.

Ideally next season Roberts will re-discover his great form and play 1 so Sam can partner a ball playing Finch at 7.

With this I'd like to see Wigan play the way they did with Edwards and Greg with Sam attacking as a second receiver attacking the line with pace as a running half.
If Wigan are to play split halves then I'd like to see Deacon and Finch control a half of the field each and have Sam attacking from FB.

Interesting. I would think that would secure Sam the #1 shirt, but assuming we dont replace Riddell then I assume Tommy will play #9.

He was poor last night, his kicking in particular helped Leeds, but this is why we have bought Finch and potentially why i'd pick Phelps over Roberts for Friday, as it also gives us the option of leaving Sam @ 1/

I have often posted on here I was not convinced TL was that good a 7 but this season I thought he really stepped up to the plate. Yes his kicking game is a weakness but I felt the rest of his game had improved by a large amount this season.

I think in recent weeks its gone backwards and I think this is also a symptom of playing Sam at full back. Deacon has the kicking game but he has no running game any more and I think more responsibility has landed on TL than he needed to take when Sam was alongside him. Other teams watched Sam and this gave TL more room and chances to play his own game. They don't need to do that with Deacon as his partner.

The best we have played this season was when Sam and TL were in the halves and Riddell and Micky Mac were sharing the hooking. We basically need a full back so we can get back to this formation IMO.

Dave

came up with a great tackle on donald which lead to donald throwing the ball inside desperately (as tommy was putting him into touch) and that lead to a wigan try that took us level and gave us hope.

TL tryed everything last night, yes his long range kicking game is terrible, but his defense is strong and he plays his heart out every week, maybe he trys to hard. once deacon went off we lost our way but when you have a completely different half back partner who you've not worked with for a very long time and a forward pack which i felt got battered last night its always going to be hard for him. lets hope Sam and Tommy get their partnership back next week and brings some organisation and order into the team.

One of the few players, along with big Stu that put in 100% commitment last night. Yes his kicking was not up to scratch but if everyone put the same effort those two did for the full 80 minutes then I honestly believe we'd have won by a fair margin.

i'm not sure what game half of you were watching. tommy was quite average if not worse last night. in defence ok i'll give him his due. he is a work horse a la harrison hansen.

however i don't remember one good kick and what on earth was he thinking when he tried to dash for the kick off in the second half. just a calamity of errors all around that was! why he didn't wait for the bounce i don't know especially when a lot of players had been slipping about in that area of the pitch throughout the game.

a few decent passes maybe, but with riddell off the pitch, even when micky was on, he was still distinclty average in attck for me.

just my opinion

I personally thought Tommy was one of the better performers, his kicking game wasnt up to scratch but his general play was excellent, the chase and tackle of Donald in the 2nd half was the play of the game for me.

The biggest mistake IL has made was re-signing Tommy for 3 more years. Not good enough for a title challenging team.

+1

He needs to practice catching kickoffs, too. Twice v Bradford and once last night he missed straightforward ones.

Tommy isn't good enough at 7 to play that role. However I think he'll be a good 9. He was exposed at the highest level as a 7 who couldn't produce and was quickly moved to 9. It took the NZ backroom all of 2 games to work this out.

Years later we're still playing him there.

This is the sort of $h1t on here that doesnt do us any good!! Absolute B0ll0x been one of our best players.

TBF it was Deacon who missed catching the kickoffs v Bradford but i do agree with you, he nearly fooked another one up against Leeds when it was going straight towards Goulding and he ran backwards straight into him.

Always one to give 100% for this team, and has come on leaps and bounds on this year. His utility in the halfs and hooker could be vital in the next few weeks and next year.

How many other members of your curent squad have a RLWC winners medal? TL is a fine player and yes, he lacks in the licking skills department, but he will always give 100%.

Tommy is a little out of form that's all.

I've said he's not at his best and he needs to take these big games by the scruff of the neck but he's not a poor player as some have stated. I like him as a player and he's always a threat but to me he's very poor when he's expected to control a game from 7. I'm not sure how he ever got selected in the 7 position because for me he's either a running stand off or as we'll see him next year a 9 that will cause problems running out of dummy half.

I'm not quite as concerned as some about our hooking position for next year. I think Leuluai can make the step up when he plays in the position on a regular basis next year. It's never easy shifting between a couple of roles and a regular run at 9 will prove if he can hack it or not.

I won't ask how you found that out

as typos go...that's a cracker

Finch 6
Sam 7
Tommy 9

Would that be better for 2011?

What do people think about playing TL in the ?

Not a lot.

Fair enough, i will keep that one to myself then....

I think it's a bit Millward

Thats the last time i think out loud on here