So Tommy has been named in the Kiwi squad for the 4 nations , I hope they play him at Hooker , just for some more experience before he shines at 9 for Wigan next year .

Let's hope they don't let him kick in general play - worst kicking game I have seen from a 7. Has any kick he has put in ever stayed in the field of play?

Hes played at hooker for the last 3 or 4 years for NZ so no reason why not

his kicking game was great on saturday , did you not see the game ? Harry Sunderland trophy and all that .

Watch the game back again and at least 3 kicks go dead. Same every week. Certainly did not win HS for his kicking game.

one slight problem...

Isaac Luke

He's generally been the interchange hooker lately spelling Isaac Luke from the bench, although he started the WC Final when the Kiwis won it in 08

Luke starts and tommy on the bench...simples

Did you actually watch the G.F ? He proved that he actually does have a decent kicking game.....

Why doesnt he kick like that every time then? Yeah he kicked well in the final but his kicking over all has been extremely poor this season.

Three kicks go dead.
Stains tap on their twenty.
Wigan defence is set.
Stains get nowhere again.
Game won.
Wigan are Champions.
Bring on Stains George.

exactly..........

I hope the Kiwis let him kick every set!

This is exactly the point, Saints, as far as I'm aware, made no breaks from a standing start when our defence was set. A lot has been said about how our kicking game won us the match and fair enough we forced some mistakes through kicks but for me the commitment from our defence won won us the match. Saints made little or no yards after contact in the first quarter as our defenders effectively cancelled out their momentum, wasn't it 13 mins before they crossed half way? This was not a great deal to do with the quality of our kicking and contributed to the mistakes they made seemingly unforced later in the game. Tommy could have kicked the ball dead all game and we would still have won. Its not rocket science but sometimes kicking the ball dead is done tactically and on each occasion we did it it worked, hardly the best choice of game to criticise Tommy, who, imo has been one of our most consistent performers in the previous years where consistency has been our problem.

i think tommy has an excellent short kicking game his attacking kicks iv always thought were very good it was his long kicking game that has let him down usually always kicking directly to the full back or winger.

i thought on saturday his kicking game was good all over just needs to be consistant with it

i still would prefer wigan to sign another hooker though as i dont think he is the answer piggy will be a huge loss IMO

A few weeks ago I'd have definitely said that a new hooker is a priority. Now I'm not so sure because McIlorum has been outstanding since his return from injury and with an offseason to improve I think he'll be even better and raring to go. Obviously if we can fit a world class hooker under the cap then we should go for it but I don't think its crucial by any means.

i cant agree with that i think it will be cruical i agree that McIlorum has been playing well in the play offs but i still think he needs a year or two to continue his development i dont think he is ready to be our number 1 hooker and i dont think Tommy is good enough to lead us round the field when he plays hooker for me we do need a very good hooker

I think we'll be fine with TL and MM, the problem is there's no obvious backup in case of injury to either of them - Logan needs another year or two IMO.

Did we not all think the same about Sam when he was coming through , after all early reports said that Logan was the best of the 3 brothers , would be nice to see him getting a break maybe a challenge cup tie like his bro

his kicking game was top notch in grand final best i ve saw him kick infact

Not really - most of us (except Nobby) thought Sam was ready in 2008, even before his superb performance in the CC game, and even then he was older than Logan is now.

Are you basing this on how you've seen him play? There is so much pressure on him because of the name on his back. When he is ready MM and SW will bring him through. I just hope he can handle the pressure because alot of the happy clappy fans will expect so much of him because of his last name alone.

I think we should go with what we have hooker wise and see how it turns out.

I couldn't agree more. There is sometimes an advantage to kicking dead deliberatley. It means the opposition forwards need to trudge back behind the 20 everytime. If the ball is retreived from the field of play then there is a risk of a break due to a poor chase or broken defence.

Not saying it should be used all the time, just that it sometimes is a deliberate ploy.

Come on lets be serious, over his time as a 7 Tommy's kicking game has been terrible. His HS was nothing to do with a good or bad kicking game, it was his dynamic play, which is what he offers our team.

Let's face it he can't kick or organise so he's not a 7, too slow and small to play anywhere else in the team bar at 9.
NZ spotted this a while back. And as it stands he's not exactly first choice there with the likes of Luke and Marshall knocking about!