Thing about Tom is he never seems flat out. He always does just enough so it's difficult to know what his top speed is. I've seen him burn off Tom Davies and David Mead in a long chase.

He flew past me last week....must have been doing at least 60 mph in his BMW

Think the fastest speed clocked last year in SL was Matty Ashton at wire, 36.43 so not too far off.

Johnstone hasn't been in the top 5 last 3 years in terms of top speed clocked.

A lot of people mistake being able to run fast as being the same as being a fast RL winger, including a lot of RL pundits.

Not sure TJ is all that fast in a straight line sprint, though clearly no slouch.

What really makes him 'fast' is a combination of things. He can sprint obviously but he has tremendous balance, athleticism to the point of being almost acrobatic, anticipation and timing. Above all he has few nerves, once he has the ball in hand he goes for it, never questions himself, never deviates he just wants to score. That's what really does it, whether it be an 80 yarder or some magical piece of contortion, if there is a chance then he will take it and 95% of the time will score.

That's what makes him a great SL player and I suspect will make him a true international star.

That's a good point.
Clearly Addo-Carr is elite level across the board but how you run is as important as how fast you run.

Daz Clarke hit a top speed of 35.82kph but for a winger it's how fast you get to that top speed and how long you can maintain it.
TJ seems to be able to maintain a high speed for a long sprint. I think that's why he looks to be cruising as others are really straining to keep going.

It's often down to running style, I have no idea how the science works but some runners look faster than others even when running at the same speed.

Dougie Laughton once said about a trialist winger, 'his pace is deceptive, he's even slower than he looks'. I imagine it works the same in reverse

Lewis Tierney is the classic demonstration of this phenomenon. His arms and legs move at high speed but he makes very little ground. I always liken this style to running the wrong way on one of those airport moving floors.

Wasn't Reece Lyne regarded by some as the fastest man in SL about the time that he joined us? I don't know if there is any official speed data available for him during that period though.

Don’t remember that but he definitely arrived with the reputation of being quick.

No. Never that.

yes but it was always sidewards

Unfair.

lighten up will yer

Reece has chosen to bulk up a lot during his stay but is still pretty sharp when he gets a break.

I seem to recall that when Reece arrived, at some point they put him up against another reputed "speed merchant", just who I can't recall, in a length of the pitch race against each other. Perhaps I dreamed it all.

I don't remember that at all.
Doesn't mean it's not true though.

Speed alone doesn't make you a great winger.
As has been pointed out Tom has the full bag of tricks and, that's what makes him great . If he stays clear of injuries this season he'll get even better.
I remember Berwyn Jones, an olympic sprinter we signed in the 60's and reputedly the 4th fastest man in the world scoring many tries with speed alone, but the game was different then and wingers had more room to work in.
If Jones was playing now, with his speed he would still probably blow them all away (a guess ) but he wouldn't score half as many tries as he did then.

Unfair