will sam tomkins be wasted again on friday as kicking tee lad
while we have to put up with useless lump of lard piggy riddell

pathetic mate,the reason nobby didnt pick him against hull is coz there a big pack with some big hitters in the team, if he got injured you would be the first person to say why did he pick him against all the big men of KR, the lad is in no state to play everygame, its a marathon not a sprint this super league season, use sam later on in the year when teams start to tire out quicker

If you have the talent, why waste it. Nobby knows best though, obviously

I think we should play him off the bench, that was working so why change it? He gives us an extra option and takes on the line like no other player.

Stupid posts like this are really starting to bug me about Tomkins.

If some people had their way he wouldn’t have played yet this season as every game there is a new excuse for why he shouldn’t e.g they’ll be up for it or they’ve got some big forwards, he needs a rest, the wet weather wouldn’t suit him etc, etc etc it’s pathetic

FFS the kid has played in 2 massive Wigan vs Saints derby games! It doesn’t get anymore intense or bigger at SL level but yet he shouldn’t have played against Wakey in the first game of the season or KR last week?? Sam has handled players like Graham, Cunningham, Roby, Pauleta etc and not got injured so why would it have happened against KR?

Like it or lump it we aren’t Saints who have the ability/squad to rest young players and not feel it. Tomkins was missed on Friday and the longer we leave him out the more and more we’ll miss him and the same goes for Ainscough 2.

Yes he will. But it will be in place of McIllorum not Piggy.

Finally somebody speaking sence concerning Tomkins

Not talking sense at all.
We were all told at the beginning of the season by Lenagan that we should expect Sam to play around 15 games this season in the first team. He will do that easily.

Remember what happened to Brown and Robinson.

Just have a bit of patience, it'll pay off in the long term.

Are Saints playing Wheeler and Eastmond every game?

Did Leeds play McGuire and Burrow every game?

We need him playing though, he gives us another Dimension in attack(which we missed against KR). Also look what Mylers doing with Salford hes younger than Sam but he dusnt need "duty of care" or whatever you call it.

Do you want Sam to play on friday or is he too tired?

Tbh I am torn over these issues.


Part of me says "throw 'em in the deep end, ala Faz or Edwards"

Part of me says "Careful with (very) young talent"


Ultimately it's Nobby's call. He is closer to them than any of us.

I have absolutely no doubt that he will do whatever is right for the two of them.

And what about Ratchford at Salford, and Watkins at Leeds, they are not playing week in week out.

I think Sam will play from the bench on Friday and McIlorum will miss out.
I also think Hansen will play and Joel Tomkins will miss out.

Then again we don't know the injury situation do we.

Spot on mate. Thats exactly how it is.

And just for those who want to kick Piggy out


look here

[urlhttp://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?season=2009&stat=missed_tackles&hs1=2009&hp1=2385&hs2=2009&hp2=2075[/url

what a load of b@llox dont talk poo

When that comment was made I’m sure IL didn't envisage or plan on us being in the situation we currently find ourselves in. Times change sadly and comments made three or four months ago can’t be held to account now.

By all means if Smith was playing out of his skin and turning out to be at least 50% of the player Trent was or if Piggy wasn’t taking so long to settle in or find form then yes i’d be more than happy for Sam to get those mythical 15 games IL said he’d get at the start of the season.

But sadly this hasn’t happened and this team needs Sam’s enthusiasm, talent and commitment to the Wigan cause just like it did before the Quins game earlier in the season. Let’s not forget the two players who came into a losing side and played a massive part in turning it around that day.

Sam and Ainscough came in and replaced two badly performing players in Smith and Roberts and took to SL like a duck to water. They started our mini revival and now all of a sudden they’ve been shot back down to the reserves to be replaced by the same players who got us into the mess we were in???



Yes one was overrated by Stevo after one decent try against Saints and the other forgot which way to drive round a roundabout? Neither have or had half the talent Tomkins has.


No because they have Pryce and Long in front of them. We’ve got the lottery of what Smith will turn up each week!



No but again they had Dunneman to out lodge and we’ve got what I said above......

The team performs when Sam plays and seeing that every game is now critical to our season we don't have the luxury of not playing him.

If he needed a rest we should have waited until we were comfortably in the top eight so defeats like Friday wouldn’t be such a huge blow to our season! Four wins on the bounce should have the beginning and not as good as it gets which imo is looking that way.

The stats can say what ever they want for me. All i know if both Piggy and Mcilorum played on Friday night and one had the game of his life and is in a good vein of form.

Are you seriously saying you'd drop Mcilorum after his game on Friday and keep Piggy?

False, Noble rested him, which Sam wasn't happy about.

Yes,
Because whether you want to believe it or not Piggy is at the moment a better all round hooker than McIlorum as those stats show.

I'm a very big fan of Mickey Mac (look back at my posts over the years) However I don't think we can play Riddell, McIlorum, Sam, Tommy and Smith in the same 17.

One has to be left out, and this time I would expect it to be Mickey Mac. Harsh, yes but look at those stats, particularly tackle busts and tackles missed.

Surely Noble's right when he says players should be picked on form. The top and bottom of it is McIlorum is playing better than Piggy at the moment so therefore he should be in the 17.

For me Piggy should go to the reserves for a few weeks and hopefully this will be the wake up call he needs

I rate Piggy actually and he is the better hooker but he's off form and Mcilorum is bang on it which evens the scales for me.

You can’t take a player out who’s on form imo

Agreed, maybe just one week though assess this performance and attitude then see how macca played then sort the team out for the cup game.

Have you compared KFC & PIggy?

KFC approx 20% more yards but from twice as many carries!

Piggy More tackles with only 1/3rd of the errors!

Less tackle busts but more clean breaks and less errors (Only a quarter of KFC's) & Penalties!

If you compare him against "One Trick" He doesn't come out too bad either!

More metres from less carries, Less tackles (Probably less game time) but same % of missed tackles.

More clean breaks but only half the penalties and a 3rd of the errors!

Of course he was speaking sense. The most succinct and too the point post yet exposing the nonsensical excuses used to justify Noble not playing him.



So if he reaches that magic number that will be it? No more games come what may regardless of how things pan out? If he look still looks completely comfortable at the end of the season as he does now and he improves the side as he does now, he should play.

We look worse without him in the side and as such he should play when fit and on form.



Remeber what happened with all those who were old enough because they were good enough? There have been planty and I am sure you don'r need me to list them for you. In any case Brown and Robinson are first team SL players so I am not sure what your point is.



Yes they did. Both aged 20 in 2003, the same ag as Sam T is now.

Look at their stats on the Leeds web site

Burrow:

[url=http://www.therhinos.co.uk/rugby/players/first_team.php?includeref=dynamic&player=81187Burrow[/url

According to the above link Burrow played in 29 games in 2003 which is all 27 rounds plus the playoffs, at the same age as Sam.

As did [url=http://www.therhinos.co.uk/rugby/players/first_team.php?player=81347&includeref=dynamicMcQuire[/url also aged 20 in 2003. 29 games, at the same age as Sam

Dave

ok mate well we will see at the end of the season when sam wont be able to get around the field because he will be goosed, i say this as i very reliable source whos actually gone through this situation, and if people keep on saying hes young he wont get tired come and live in the real world, his body isnt big enough to take the brutal hits and speed of super league YET

i didnt say he was happy did i