Sam T has the ability to be a class act. All he needs do is stop the occasional use of the knees in the tackle. He doesnt need to do that and the wotlds his oyster.

If he keeps doing that then some big burly guy in green and gold might take exception

I would take Thurston any day as long as we could fit him on.

And that's why I wouldn't have him, as a player like that would eat so much salary cap the rest of the squad would have to be really really thinned out. It's a weird situation, such a fantastic player, all the ability in the world, but if he does sign a new deal for the Cowboys then having him there on even bigger wages (figures of $800,000 + per year have been guessed at for his next deal) could end what little chance they have of winning.

I think in the world of the salary cap, a player can become too good if that makes sense.

As far as I can remember though, 'occasional' has been more like 'rare' and hasn't actually been anything other than accidental.

Still we're all entitled to our own views, and it's interesting to hear about something I haven't really spotted directly myself - He's a really great down to earth well mannered lad, and i'm sure if he has been doing this than Sam will be the first to be unhappy with it and be working on trying to improve it. I've rarely seen a player to be as self critical and constantly looking to improve as Sam.

Its why Tomkins S, Lockers, Hansen, Tomkins J, McIlorum, Asincough and well you know the rest, are all so valuble.

Do you not think though that if we build a team of young players from the reserves and academy then we will have enough cash to splash on the worlds best?

I would take Thurston on Barretts wages!

Ah! I obviously missed that one.

Well, all I can say is that most of us Saints fans think he is a good player (and a pain in the a$$). I hope he has a chance to play against the Aussies and Kiwis as I think that will do him good. It'll certainly help to hone his game!

I am glad you see the England situation more important than your own clubs. Naturally you should want Tomkins to turn out poop for the good of saints but I am glad you want him to do well for England, I wish all RL supporters would put league first, we could sell out Wembley for every RL international.

I think it's the way forwards to be honest, and the same as the Storm do. And to some extent what Leeds have been doing. If you think about it logically, if our youth systems are functioning the way they're intended to, a club should never have to sign anything other than a really top class player (although current rep level Aus players are always going to be out of reach if they want to keep their rep career alive).

It's also why there can be no room for a general 'keep at ANY cost attitude', ideally we'll get to a point where there is a young player snapping at the heels of every first teamer. I'm hoping next years U20 competition will be a good thing and that the standard of competition will pick up as a result, it would be great to get it to an equivalent of the Toyota Cup. I'd also really like to see other clubs outside of super league put teams in there, currently only Widnes do, and they deserve a hell of a lot of credit for running an Academy team.

I think Dual registration can help bring on players as well, though i'm unclear on the specific rules.

I had the pleasure of a cab journey with Graeme West on Saturday night. He more or less said the same as you.

Spot on with both points.

If we bring through the young players we get properly, we should be one of the best teams in the league easily every year. The more players we have through the academy playing in the first team the more likely it is we can afford top class imports.

I agree teams out of super league should play against the best reserve and academy teams.

I would love to see our reserves comp to be as good as the toyota cup, the quality of rugby over there I have heard is amazing because the players are brought through so well. At 16 british teams normally go to aus and win but when it comes to a few years later the aussies develop the young players so much better. Saying all this though the quality of our reserves is very high and we get bigger crowds than alot of national league teams and it puts them to shame.

I would urge more people to get down to watch the reserves next season afterall it is free with a season ticket and its on a saturday when most people are not working. It is also quite often more entertaining rugby than what we see in super league.

even using that model you will still run into salary cap issues at some point. If all the players stated above go on to be very successfull and win full international honours then I would imagine they would be able to command decent pay increases. This has/is happening at Saints and some of my more deluded fellow Saints fans cant understand why we are having to let some established players go seemingly without replacing them ..

I like Both S and J Tomkins and definatly can see both going onto do big things for Wigan and England and I really hope Ainscough get s a chance and gets some good coaching because I'd love to see a real english flying winger in the squad (never really seen what the fuss is about McIlorum though).

Hell yeah. I love rugby league and so I want rugby league to do well, in the UK and internationally. I hope Tomkins plays a blinder* (should Smith allow him to play) and even if he does get over run, he won't be the first and he won't be the last! Hopefully he will learn from the experience, whatever it is like, and see it as inspirational. I think that way even about the likes of Ryan Hall - and to think that way about a Leeds player after the last Grand Final must prove to anyone beyond any shadow of a doubt that I very much want rugby league to do well!



*So long as Tomkins remembers he must always have an off game when he meets us!

Absolutely you'll still run into cap issues, but you'll be able to plan and manage and be having other players naturally come through. It will mean letting some players go at some point, look at the storm having to let Folau go because they couldn't give him the kind of money the Broncos were waving around, or them having to let DJ potentially go.

It's a much nicer position to be in though, and when a few teams are in this position it will be a good indication that we're actually as nation starting to bring through and develop more quality young players.

Likewise I really like Eastmond and hope he stays and plays well for you guys (and has shockers against us

)

Totally agree, it's what the salary cap was supposed to do , spread the talent a bit.

Lockyer's comment about Tomkins being exciting and they'll have to do more homework on him.
The Aussies had obviously never heard of him before they arrived here.
Mind you they might not have anything to worry about with Sam, knowing Tony Smith's ability to get it wrong he probably won't play him v the Aussies and Kiwis. After all Myler will be Smith first choice, won't he?

If Smith plays Myler he should be fired, not because Myler is a bad player but because he has had one match in about three months and that is no preparation at all for an international.

Why let teams who can't be ar$ed producing their own be allowed to receive this talent though?

Surely that is better than there being no talent available?

With your comments on Micky Mac, he's a player that will develop into a fine hooker. He's hard as nails and will hit anything that comes his way, he IMO is one of the old fashioned style hookers that won't take any crap. He can improve his all round game though which I'm sure he will but he's the best young hooker that's come through our academy for a good while and will only improve IMO.

And thats why we will continue to be 3rd (at best) behind Aus & NZ.

After a decade of SL and the Salary Cap ,just look at that England Team and compare it to the GB Team of a decade ago.


This competition has been dumbing down for 10 years and only now are people realising it. Look at the 'Bored of SL?' threads popping up on the Saints site.

It's gonna take a mammoth task from the likes of Wigan, Leeds, Saints, the Hull clubs & Wire (and to a lesser extent Wakey with John Kear) over the next five years to rescue this bloody game by nurturing talent through, cause sure as hell the likes of Salford, Huddersfield and Cas ain't going to do it!!

Quote ="ABP'"Crackin' idea to have Sam's blog whilst in the England camp; www.wiganwarriors.com/news_full.asp?newsid=5233'" Sam always seems to talk a lot of sense. This international will be fantastic for Sam. A chance to play at the highest level against the best players for New Zealand and Australia. As well as playing along side some of the best players in England. I believe him when he says it is inspiring playing alongside Adrian Morley and Jamie Peacock. There is a good chance Sam will get his chance at some point in the Four Nations and you can bet your life he will grab it with both hands. Not many English players excel at international level due to the differing standards of the two competition but nevertheless being surrounded by the best players England has to offer, being up against the best players in the world should provide much more experience for Sam and develop his game further which is obviously a great benefit for Wigan next season. Big game experience is obviously something Sam lacks at the moment and so this tournament should be of great help for Sam.

Quote ="ABP'"Crackin' idea to have Sam's blog whilst in the England camp; www.wiganwarriors.com/news_full.asp?newsid=5233'" Sam always seems to talk a lot of sense. This international will be fantastic for Sam. A chance to play at the highest level against the best players for New Zealand and Australia. As well as playing along side some of the best players in England. I believe him when he says it is inspiring playing alongside Adrian Morley and Jamie Peacock. There is a good chance Sam will get his chance at some point in the Four Nations and you can bet your life he will grab it with both hands. Not many English players excel at international level due to the differing standards of the two competition but nevertheless being surrounded by the best players England has to offer, being up against the best players in the world should provide much more experience for Sam and develop his game further which is obviously a great benefit for Wigan next season. Big game experience is obviously something Sam lacks at the moment and so this tournament should be of great help for Sam.

I like him. He has a great turn of pace, good step and has a an eye for the gap.
He needs someone to keep his feet on the ground and not let him believe his own hype. We have seen it happen to good youngsters before.
Hopefully though he will continue improving and within a few years we will actually have someone who can play a good role in the halves against the Aussies.

Unfair on Cas imo when you consider they've brought through the likes of Shenton, Westwrman and Owen in the last couple of years who all look good long term bets for international caps.

Agree with the rest of the post mind. The game is being run by the teams that bring the least to the table which is mind boggling.

With the smaller teams they have really stepped their game up in my opinion. I like some of the Huddersfield youngsters coming through, they seem to be going well in the first team now, Salford are getting some good players coming through and Wakey and Quins have decent players now too. They're the teams that used to rely on other peoples youth rather than promoting their own.

The only 2 teams that haven't produced a player of note recently are Celtic and Catalans. Catalans don't have an academy so take the good young french lads from other teams and Celtic have a decent academy set up, but only just started really so they've not started to come through yet.