Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:59 pm  

Not really. I want to know how my first comment relates to that.

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Fri Jun 20, 2014 8:19 pm  

Hasn't he just come back because he's been found out in union and binned by England?

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Fri Jun 20, 2014 8:30 pm  

Jake the Peg wrote:

Hasn't he just come back because he's been found out in union and binned by England?

Read the the previous pages if you don't follow union. He said he was missing rugby league and his wife is pregnant with the 1st child so they wanted to be close to family and now he is 27 it was going to be now or never.

Edit**

he could have stayed in union because he was never found out he was seen as a good player.

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:56 pm  

Jake the Peg wrote:

Hasn't he just come back because he's been found out in union and binned by England?

No he hasn't..in union especially the England camp it's more flavour of the month. There are some incredibly unlucky players not to be getting more England caps. look at Ashton, he's being absolute dog turd for years yet seems to cement his place somehow.
Tomkins got injured at a very crucial point so was never going to get picked was he
I'm not a fan of his and Wigan as a club..well as a Hull fan I'm sur you know the score.. but those talking complete and utter b0llocks about something they have no idea about gets up my nose.

[Pemps]

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Sat Jun 21, 2014 6:05 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

Personally I think its great he's back in RL.

Isn't part of the problem that he was effectively a part-time centre in RL (albeit a pretty good one), who was always eventually going to move permanently into the forwards?

RU signed him as primarily a centre. From what I recall he had big pluses as a centre - big and quick - but didn't look a natural centre in RL either for the most part, despite the spectacular Wembley try (aided by some poor Leeds defence it should be noted).

I sincerely hope that Sam Burgess is a bigger flop, as it seems he's apparently been signed as a centre as well, with far less background than Tomkins (I don't think he's ever played in the centres - certainly not for Souths). The prevailing view seems to be that he'll never master the complexities as an RU forward.

Centres are completely different in union to league and the big athletic RL second rows make good crash ball centres in Union. A classy RL centre/stand off would fill the other RU centre position. Ones an inside centre and ones an outside centre but I'm not sure which is the crash ball one and which is the more 'skilled' one.
Tomkins did well in his few seasons there but he just wasn't busy enough, through no fault of his own. Union is a forwards game.

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:30 am  

Seriously, bragging that you know more about rah rah than everyone else is not cool, take a look at yourselves.

He looks a bit chubby faced to me. Who ate all the fly-halves?

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Sun Jun 22, 2014 6:35 am  

ABP' wrote:

I can understand why Leeds fans are so devastated after that Wembley try.

That was one of the great cup final trys.

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Sun Jun 22, 2014 6:43 am  

dubairl wrote:

Read the the previous pages if you don't follow union. He said he was missing rugby league and his wife is pregnant with the 1st child so they wanted to be close to family and now he is 27 it was going to be now or never.

Edit**

he could have stayed in union because he was never found out he was seen as a good player.

Like I said, he's lost his england place and knows he isn't good enough to get it back so his value in union has dropped and can probably earn more in league now

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Sun Jun 22, 2014 7:28 am  

Jake the Peg wrote:

Like I said, he's lost his england place and knows he isn't good enough to get it back so his value in union has dropped and can probably earn more in league now

Lol you think he is earning more in league? He has publicly said he has taken a pay cut to come home. And somebody who has played both games but grew up loving league would know exactly what he would have felt after the win against leeds at the Etihad.


End of the day he was good enough to earn another shot at the England Squad but he has already got to that point and has seen the grass wasn't greener and came back home.

also just because you don't get picked for england (he is injured) doesn't mean his contract at saracens becomes null and void.

Re: Joel Tomkins returns : Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:05 am  

On Burgess, my understanding is (could be wrong) that he's been signed to play in the centres. He wants to play in the World Cup next year, and there's little chance he'd be even half proficient at the RU forwards' stock in trade by that time. He won't be leaving Souths until their season is up, which most likely means no pre-season at all in RU - just straight into it.

I just look at his build and the way he plays and can see him having the odd flash moment in both attack and defence, but in the centres his basic lack of speed and mobility would be a problem. He's a completely different style of player to SBW, who would be a great RL centre if he wanted to be, as well as pretty good in RU. Burgess would be an average centre in RL, never mind RU.