He was a Wire fan as a kid. He even said himself on Supermen when interviewing someone who played in the Sheffield CC win over Wigan "I was cheering on Sheffield that day as I was a Warrington fan".

He'll go to the NRL.

I'm suprised Wigan Fans havent been laughing at the poor Quality of this list of fullbacks......!!!







[urlhttp://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/elite-show-you-always-have-to-look-out-for-no1-20120912-25ssq.html[/url



Phil Clarke would have him somewhere above Inglis just below Slater i'd guess...



seriously though that is one list of fullbacks and wooden spooner Jarrod Hayne isnt in it....???



why cant England beat Australia again.............

If your going to break the bank for the best No.1 in the game then you should be looking at Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, Ben barba or Nathan Merritt... All 4 are superior to Tomkins.. but, just like Tomkins, none are available.

As everyone knows it's because in this country RL is a minority sport, whereas in Australia it's second only to AFL and attracts some of it's finest athletes.



I would say that Sam is better than any of New Zealand's fullbacks though, which means there's a chance of beating them, on home soil at least.



Where would you rank Tomkins amongst the fullbacks of the NRL? Personally I'd say about seventh or eighth.

we have a full back which can attack is safe undr the high ball,can tackle,can create trys and score trys and comes across as a level headed and well liked individual,so why would we want someone who can just attack and score the odd try,throws a tantrum and lets a 40-20 ball go into touch...and your spot on with your comment mr rocket

How can you say Sam scores "the odd try" when he's second in the top try scorers behind Josh Charnley. Tomkins has more than twice as many try assists, 33 compared to 14! He has also made twice as many meters this season and put in 33 more tackles. Granted he needs some work under the high ball but it's very rarely an issue and I can only think of two games where he seriously struggled but I guess biased people will only see biased views. I think Hodgson is one of the best players we have had in Super League but get a grip Sam Tomkins is class and would walk into any team in this country.



Sam Tomkins

28 Tries

465 Carries

39 Clean Breaks

3438 Meters

21 Offloads

152 Tackle Busts

33 Try Assists

111 Tackles



Brett Hodgson

6 Tries

218 Carries

7 Clean Breaks

1420 Meters

9 Offloads

28 Tackle Busts

14 Try Assists

78 Tackles

Agreed. Some of those statistics are unbelievable, it must be one of the best seasons ever from an individual player.

I must say I do think Hodgson is world class and has proved it on every stage possible. A 23 year old Brett would rack up equally as substantial stats and the fact he's one of the best players in the league at 34! shows how much of a rugby league great he is.

Its almost unbelievable that he can still perform at the level he does... what a player. It's no wonder we gave him another 2 year contract.. his quality show no signs of tailing off... obviously he cant play every week. But in the current setup, he doesn't need to.

I didn't watch any NRL or State of Origin till about 3 years ago, but I've been watching the classic games they have on Fox and I gained so much more appreciation for the likes of Andrew Johns, Gordan Tallis and Brett Hodgson. I would easily consider Brett one of your finest super league signings.

Those are some excellent statistics, although I would like to point out a few you left out:



Sam Tomkins:

Tackles 111

Missed Tackles 22

Errors 28



Brett Hodgson:

Tackles 78

Missed Tackles 4

Errors 16



I imagine Brett has played fewer games this season which may account for some of the errors, and Tomkins has fewer penalties given away (5 compared to 9), but 1 missed tackle for every 5 tackles is poor for one of the most important defensive positions in the game.



EDIT: actually, having gone through the stats, that's still better than most full backs in SL - only Leeds, Saints and Hull (as well as us) have better than that, and none of them close to Brett's missing 1 for every 20 made. I also noticed Mathers made 68 tackles this season and missed 35, that's an awful ratio.