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Quote ="kobashi"Like I have said before, tomkins injury free at his best is a better support player then Hardaker and offers more attacking threat. I think you are forgetting how good Tomkins was when he was previously in Super ">League.'" Yes but Tomkins shouldn't be picked next year based on what he did for Wigan back in 2012 or 2013, it's got to be because of what he does in 2016 that should determine whether he gets a shirt. Tomkins in a England or NZ Warriors shirt hasn't come close to matching what he did for Wigan, which was a couple of years ago now.

Quote ="kobashi"Like I have said before, tomkins injury free at his best is a better support player then Hardaker and offers more attacking threat. I think you are forgetting how good Tomkins was when he was previously in Super ">League.'" Yes but Tomkins shouldn't be picked next year based on what he did for Wigan back in 2012 or 2013, it's got to be because of what he does in 2016 that should determine whether he gets a shirt. Tomkins in a England or NZ Warriors shirt hasn't come close to matching what he did for Wigan, which was a couple of years ago now.

Quote ="ThePrinter"Yes but Tomkins shouldn't be picked next year based on what he did for Wigan back in 2012 or 2013, it's got to be because of what he does in 2016 that should determine whether he gets a shirt. Tomkins in a England or NZ Warriors shirt hasn't come close to matching what he did for Wigan, which was a couple of years ago ">now.'" He's had an injury hit 12 months but in his first season with the NZ Warriors he had a similar amount of trys/assists combined as Greg Inglis and Billy Slater managed. It was also a similar amount to that which superleagues man of steel racked up this season (in a comp that people openly admit is easier to score points in). There seems to be a few people (not labelling this at you) who want Sam Tomkins to fail but I can't stress how important I think he is to this England side going forward. If people think he's world class or not he's still by a distance the best creative back we've produced in years and we'll need him fit and firing going forward. The other options in the fullback/halfback positions (Hardaker, Widdop, Smith, Williams, Gale etc) just aren't in that class. All good players but they're not Sam Tomkins.

Quote ="ThePrinter"Yes but Tomkins shouldn't be picked next year based on what he did for Wigan back in 2012 or 2013, it's got to be because of what he does in 2016 that should determine whether he gets a shirt. Tomkins in a England or NZ Warriors shirt hasn't come close to matching what he did for Wigan, which was a couple of years ago ">now.'" He's had an injury hit 12 months but in his first season with the NZ Warriors he had a similar amount of trys/assists combined as Greg Inglis and Billy Slater managed. It was also a similar amount to that which superleagues man of steel racked up this season (in a comp that people openly admit is easier to score points in). There seems to be a few people (not labelling this at you) who want Sam Tomkins to fail but I can't stress how important I think he is to this England side going forward. If people think he's world class or not he's still by a distance the best creative back we've produced in years and we'll need him fit and firing going forward. The other options in the fullback/halfback positions (Hardaker, Widdop, Smith, Williams, Gale etc) just aren't in that class. All good players but they're not Sam Tomkins.

Tomkins is vital to England going forward IMO. He's one of the very few players who can create space and make tries. None of the halfbacks we've played in this series have shown that capability.



The issue with Sam T is where he plays. I'd love him to move permanently into the halfs. If anyone should be dropped from this series it would be Widdopp - Smith did more in that game than Widdopp has done in three, and Smith's not exactly the most dynamic halfback around.



As for forwards, our pack looks immeasurably stronger with S Burgess, regardless of where he plays. I'd go for 13 and let him have a roaming role just wide of the props. Hopefully Whitehead will improve at the Raiders, as we need more quality in the second row.

Quote ="BuckleyStreetWire" Where I worry about England is in the halves. We do not have good halves. Thurston and Cronk, Johnson and Foran (with players in reserve three and four deep who would walk into our 6 and 7 shirts) make our lads look like a ">joke.'" Agreed and i think HB will always be a problem as coaches don't have the bottle to play young HB's. Either because they don't think their physically big enough, or they never trust them. Coaches will always play a loose forward, second-rower, full back or centre at HB ahead of a young inexperienced HB. I know Wigan and Shaun Wane get some stick on here, but i think they/he deserves huge credit for sticking with George Williams when they were struggling earlier in the season. Easy cop out for coaches is to blame the young HB and just play Sean O'loughlin there. Wane stuck with Williams, and allowed him to make mistakes and develop.

Quote ="BuckleyStreetWire" Where I worry about England is in the halves. We do not have good halves. Thurston and Cronk, Johnson and Foran (with players in reserve three and four deep who would walk into our 6 and 7 shirts) make our lads look like a ">joke.'" Agreed and i think HB will always be a problem as coaches don't have the bottle to play young HB's. Either because they don't think their physically big enough, or they never trust them. Coaches will always play a loose forward, second-rower, full back or centre at HB ahead of a young inexperienced HB. I know Wigan and Shaun Wane get some stick on here, but i think they/he deserves huge credit for sticking with George Williams when they were struggling earlier in the season. Easy cop out for coaches is to blame the young HB and just play Sean O'loughlin there. Wane stuck with Williams, and allowed him to make mistakes and develop.

I actually quite like the idea of a Smith/Tomkins HB pairing, IF Tomkins plays in the halves and plays well - which may be unlikely given Wigan's existing Smith/Williams pairing. I think Smith is an excellent scrum half who controls the game very well. Okay he's not particularly flair, but as we saw on Saturday he is capable of controlling a game, moving a side around the park and has a good kicking game. Pair him with a more exciting, creative player of Tomkins' ilk, and we could be getting somewhere.