Tomkins

[vvvrulz]

ESL is much slower then NRL that's obvious with Tomkins error rate

Does that really excuse things like falling over all the time or dropping the ball cold with no pressure?

 

[Fufu Andronez]

Well I have NO doubt that the bloke will come into his own before his contract is finished. If he wasn't having a dig then fair enough I'd be annoyed but he is putting in the effort and getting involved and it will pay off eventually. Good thing is that it will pay off for us.

It could be worse guys we could have Boyd at the back.

 

[jason taylor]

Does that really excuse things like falling over all the time or dropping the ball cold with no pressure?

That's the one thing the confounds me, him tripping over the turf all the time. Is the English turf that much different or has he always been prone to tripping?

 

[Philip_Smith007]

So on current form what is he worth?
Max 150k.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

Can you put a value on what he is worth to Johnson's game? He has been a pretty big factor in Johnson's improvement IMO (the organisational side of his game), just need him to get his own form in order and well be sweet.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

:lol:

Granted he's not taking the world by storm but some of these comments are quite sad.

Locke won't play another game for us, and even if he did he's not anywhere near Tomkins. Amazing how an injury can make a players faults all go away so quickly.

I'm just glad we haven't gotten to the stage where people are calling for Fish to the back. Then I really know the plot has been lost.

 

[ripthebodyhookthehead]

Back to Super League Son

 

[attila_the_gorilla]

He's no a natural fullback and proves i every week. But don't see why he would get singled out after a game like that. I like what he brings in attack, and his defensive positioning is coming along. Adjusting to a different league but I'm seeing gradual improvements. Handling errors in attack I can live with. Defensive mistakes/poor positioning I can't.
This game was choked away big time. Lack of leadership as usual. I suppose Tomkins could be one of the leaders out there and instead of letting the sheep rush to take a quick tap from a 40/20 and force a pointless play, he could tell them to be patient, set up properly and try to build pressure.

 

[sup42]

Sams out of form.

He's lost speed.

Otherwise I think he was a cheap buy for what he can do and will do when he finds some form.

I admire the way he's fighting to get it back.

I'm prepared to give him all the time it takes while he is putting the effort in. If people can put up with ten years of Manu who at one tlme was our highest paid player, now there's a guy who will never change his stripes , the flaws are like it or lump it.

Tomkins on the other hand isn't a mistake riddled player normally , so it seems he is having a year like Ropo did and so many others.

When that happens ( unforced errors ) of course you aren't getting what you paid for.....but to say he is expensive is just wrong.

The transfer fee means nothing to us. It didn't come out of our pockets or our salary cap...I'm sure Eric and Owen have made worse investments with far more money than Tomkins actual very average registered contract.

Bottom line is the Warriors couldn't play their new style of rugby league without Tomkins....who's going to play make like that and be everywhere all of the time opening up the left and right attack ?

Johnson ?
Chad ?
TL ?
Locke ?

None of those options can do it.

Sams game sucks right now but I'm waiting till he comes right again , back to his usual self.

Shauns having the year of his life and the Warriors are leading the competition in attack...that is directly a result of introducing someone else that has his back work wise.

The worth it thing is the wrong Q. imo especially at a club where having lots of cap space is an alarm bells situation.....a symptom of a much deeper problem.

I'm always great full when name players decide to come here. The Dogs went rushing over to pom Land trying to prise Tomkins off Wigan only to find he had been taken off the table by the Warriors offer. Other clubs like the GC and Panthers balked at the transfer fee ( speaks of their financial reality and the marked difference in cash to a super rich club like the Warriors ).

Tomkins could have made life a lot easier for himself and jumped in with the Dogs.....playing off the back of acres of room / time / space, and outstanding edge defending center / wing supports.

People forget what a gamble coming the Warriors is.....bottom table dwellers, we are the Catalan Dragons of the NRL.....an NRL in joke like the eels have been the butt of so many spoon jokes....for us it's always been 'roll up roll up the Warriors circus is in town.

For the rumored Six hundred and eighty thousand Aus at the time....that's chump change.....Brand Tomkins would be worth well above that in his TV role and endorsements in the UK

 

[Washed Up Player]

I have waited to see Tomkins really add value.

There are some positive signs, i dont mind the occasional error in attack if it means you are playing positive and trying things.

What really bugs me is his lack of basic posistional sense, several trys from opposistion teams could have been stopped if he was in the right place. Along with taking bombs that is one of the most important jobs of a fullback.

Havent been to any games (they dont play in Brisbane until week after next). Does anyone know what his talk is like?

Maybe we have bought a 5/8 who is playing fullback?

Willing to give him until the end of the year (even though i have a soft spot for Locke and would have been happy if we kept working on him)

WUP

 

[Mixmasterreece]

I think it's a tough call to know how we may have got on if Locke was the starting fullback from round 1. I can say with some certainty though that Locke simply wouldn't have been able to set up some of the tries that tomkins has this year - he doesn't have those soft hands.

But given the injuries we've had, if we hadnt purchased tomkins who the hell would of played fullback with Locke, Hukatai and fish out most of the season? Fusitua? Laumape? Brad Abbey?

I still think Tomkins is a 6. With a fit, competent fullback and tomkins and Johnson in he halves I think we'd be much stronger.

 

[jamaman]

I would prefer Tomkins play 6. he is not strong enough at 1

 

[Rich102]

Sams out of form.

He's lost speed.

Otherwise I think he was a cheap buy for what he can do and will do when he finds some form.

I admire the way he's fighting to get it back.

I'm prepared to give him all the time it takes while he is putting the effort in. If people can put up with ten years of Manu who at one tlme was our highest paid player, now there's a guy who will never change his stripes , the flaws are like it or lump it.

Tomkins on the other hand isn't a mistake riddled player normally , so it seems he is having a year like Ropo did and so many others.

When that happens ( unforced errors ) of course you aren't getting what you paid for.....but to say he is expensive is just wrong.

The transfer fee means nothing to us. It didn't come out of our pockets or our salary cap...I'm sure Eric and Owen have made worse investments with far more money than Tomkins actual very average registered contract.

Bottom line is the Warriors couldn't play their new style of rugby league without Tomkins....who's going to play make like that and be everywhere all of the time opening up the left and right attack ?

Johnson ?
Chad ?
TL ?
Locke ?

None of those options can do it.

Sams game sucks right now but I'm waiting till he comes right again , back to his usual self.

Shauns having the year of his life and the Warriors are leading the competition in attack...that is directly a result of introducing someone else that has his back work wise.

The worth it thing is the wrong Q. imo especially at a club where having lots of cap space is an alarm bells situation.....a symptom of a much deeper problem.

I'm always great full when name players decide to come here. The Dogs went rushing over to pom Land trying to prise Tomkins off Wigan only to find he had been taken off the table by the Warriors offer. Other clubs like the GC and Panthers balked at the transfer fee ( speaks of their financial reality and the marked difference in cash to a super rich club like the Warriors ).

Tomkins could have made life a lot easier for himself and jumped in with the Dogs.....playing off the back of acres of room / time / space, and outstanding edge defending center / wing supports.

People forget what a gamble coming the Warriors is.....bottom table dwellers, we are the Catalan Dragons of the NRL.....an NRL in joke like the eels have been the butt of so many barsb....roll up roll up the Warriors circus is in town.

For the rumored Six hundred and eighty thousand Aus at the time....that's chump change.....Brand Tomkins would be worth well above that in his TV role and endorsements in the UK

Totally agree. His work ethic is second to none and some of his touches are sublime.
Give him time and he will repay us in spades.
Early in the season I saw some danger signs - Tomkins came up to Johnson during a game and as he left Johnson rolled his eyes - you don't see that now. I think Johnson has learnt to respect Tomkins' skills and see it giveshim, Johnson, far more freedom.

As for Locke. I think we have seen the last of him in a Warriors jersey, barring injury. People who think he still rates a position are thinking of the Locke of old; time has caught up with him. Hope he has a good run in ESL.

 

[Scott]

He will come good. He is 13 games into a career. The ESL is rubbish, complete and utter rubbish, compared to the NRL.

I like the way he marshalls his front line from the back. Very Slater like & very authoritive.

As for playing at 6 - he isn't up to defending in the front line.

He will be sweet. He just need to cut out a couple of silly errors. The bye will probably do him plenty of good too.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I feel simultaneously pissed off with the way he's been playing to a large extent, but excited and happy that he's in our team, if that makes any sense.

I also don't get the calls to move him to 6 because he's "too small" for fullback- despite the rise of the likes of Hayne, Inglis and Dugan, it's still pretty normal in this era for your fullback to be one of your smallest players.

 

[jaseg]

Some waaaaay OTT negative stuff on Tomkins. I had a go earlier in the thread.. but acknowledged that he brings some good stuff to the table. He is worth much more than 150k, he is certainly far from the worst fullback in the NRL (I have him around 7th-8th even at current form), and Kevin Locke is simply not a better (or equal) player. Locke at his best would be better than the current Tomkins (who has so much room to grow) - but we haven't seen that in years, nor are we likely to see it again.

 

[Iafeta]

I love the quick tap on passes and his general passing. Aside from the one to Vatuvei on the weekend, he generally gets it spot on and IMO he has helped add an element to Konrad Hurrell's game simply by him being able to get the ball quicker. Thats the positive. The positive, kind of where it starts and finishes.

THe game against Newcastle his work rate was high. It was very good. Still one horrible error just as he looked like he was about to burst through the line. I expect him to have that kind of work rate most weeks. Games where he has like 8-9 carries for 70 odd metres, like last week, aren't really good enough.

Not competing for bombs near the posts is not good enough.

I also don't think he has the searing speed we thought he had. WHereas say a Johnson type of player can poke his nose through and be away, Tomkins generally isn't.

His balance is also an issue, but I concede has got a lot better.

All in all, the equation to me looks like this. $700k, definitely not worth that. If he were at any other club that'd be a disgraceful purchase. For us, he needs to improve but we struggle to get any big names so in essence he probably hasn't cost us anyone. So in that sense he's probably a bonus. He seriously needs to lift up his 'accuracy' though, the simple errors, the lack of involvement in carting the ball forward, the lack of attention on bombs, being up in the line while the ball is grubbered behind him for a try against the Knights, those are the errors that need to stop for him to repay his value. At the moment he appears in third gear and needs to significantly improve his output for mine.

 

[vvvrulz]

Sams out of form.
...

Sams game sucks right now but I'm waiting till he comes right again , back to his usual self.

I could put up with a few bad mistakes during the opening few rounds, even up until round six perhaps. But this is round 13.

What worries me is, what if Tomkins just doesn't have the skills to handle a weekly NRL grind and he's going to remain rocks and diamonds?

If it is the case he is a good player and worth keeping, but nothing special.

Even if the stupid knock ons etc go away he still has issues:

- Being completely out of position to make a last tackle, several times this season the line was broken and the opposition had a free ride to the try line
- Still iffy under the high ball and often not even contesting
- Ineffective against most players 1-1, either runs into a brick wall or gets stomped over

When on song with a bit of space he is of course gold on attack, but against tough opponents and in playoff footy he needs to start stepping up defensively.

Of course hopefully it all comes right, he has the attitude and work ethic to make it happen.
But we have plenty of reason to be sceptical at this stage

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

every player has a bad game in a season, that was tompkins game on saturday, so no critism from em

but in his wigan days has he ever travelled that far for an away game, through 3 time zones 2 hours at airport then a 8 hour flight,

cut him sum slack on this one peeps

 

[jamaman]

every player has a bad game in a season, that was tompkins game on saturday, so no critism from em

but in his wigan days has he ever travelled that far for an away game, through 3 time zones 2 hours at airport then a 8 hour flight,

cut him sum slack on this one peeps

hope he doesn't use your excuse