Sam Tomkins made the brave move to leave his beloved club Wigan and take on the NRL in 2014. He left the English Super League having achieved it all, he won two Premierships 2010 & 2013, two Challenge Cups 2011 & 2013 and was named player of the year (Man of Steel) in 2012. Sam has represented England on 25 occasions scoring 21 tries. He played 129 Super League matches, winning 100, giving him the ridiculous winning percentage of 77.5%. To put it into perspective Cameron Smith’s winning percentage in slightly below 70% and he has played for the most dominant team of the last decade. Of course the Super League is not a competitive as the NRL. For example the bottom placed London Broncos have lost all 23 games in 2014, while bottom placed Canberra and Cronulla have each won 5.
The New Zealand Warriors had to pay a world record transfer fee of 700,000 pounds to acquire Tomkins from Wigan. His arrival signalled the beginning of the end for talented Fullback Kevin Locke’s association with the Warriors, has Sam been worth or the fuss and money?
By the numbers Sam Tomkins as played in all 20 games for the Warriors in 2014 and won 11, a winning percentage of 55%. He has scored 10 tries, set up 9, broke the line 12 times, assisted in 16 line breaks and forced 4 drop outs. His strike rate is down in all departments when compared to his numbers in Super League but that is to be expected. Super League do not record line break assists or forced drop outs, so I cannot get an accurate figure on attacking plays per game, on the stats available its 2.7, so you could safely estimate somewhere around 3.5 to 4 APPG.
In the NRL Sam has produced 2.6 Attacking Plays Per Game (APPG), on par with Brett Stewart, Greg Inglis and only slightly below Billy Slater with 2.8 APPG. Surprise packet Michael Morgan is in killer form averaging 3.3 APPG, but man of the year Jarryd Hayne is sitting pretty on top with 4.1 APPG. These numbers indicate that in attack Tomkins has not been outclassed and can match it with some of the biggest names in the NRL. As a side note gun young Fullback Anthony Milford who is not included in the picture above has averaged 2.75 APPG in 2014.
Sam has broken 79 tackles and offloaded 14 times in 2014, giving him an average of 4.7 Second Phase Per Game (SPPG), a higher rate then Brett Stewart (2.9 SPPG), Michael Morgan (3.6 SPPG) and Billy Slater (4.3 SPPG). Of the Fullbacks shown above only Greg Inglis (4.9 SPPG) and Jarryd Hayne (7.1 SPPG) are more proactive when it comes to second phase. Anthony Milford has averaged 6.25 SPPG.
Sam has run 258 times for 2074 metres at 103.7 per game. This is only slightly less then his average run metres in Super League (110.5) and is a solid contribution. He averages more metres then Brett Stewart (89.4) and Michael Morgan (100.9). Billy Slater (117.4), Greg Inglis (143.6) and Jarryd Hayne (174.2) have run for significantly more metres. Anthony Milford has averaged 104.65 metres per game.
In defence Tomkins has been impressive given his diminutive stature. He has made 104 tackles from 130 attempts at 80% successful. 80% is a very good percentage for a NRL fullback. Hayne, Slater, Inglis and Stewarts career average in the position are all slightly below or above 80%. In Super League Sam defended at 88% successful, I have not seen any NRL Fullback do this for an extended period of time. His defence in 2014 has been better then Jarryd Hayne’s (75.31), Billy Slater’s (76.99) and Brett Stewarts (79.52). Michael Morgan (86.92) and Greg Inglis (88.89) are at a new level when it comes to defending at fullback in 2014. Anthony Milford’s has been defending at 65.77% in 2014.
When it comes to discipline Sam has made 26 errors and given away 7 penalties for an average of 1.7 Errors/Penalties Per Game (EPPG), 0.4 more then his average in the Super League. This is a better rate then Billy Slater and Jarryd Hayne, who both average 1.9 EPPG, but significantly worse then Michael Morgan (1.5), Brett Stewart (1.0) and Greg Inglis (0.6). Anthony Milford has averaged 1.3 EPPG.
In conclusion Sam Tomkins first year in the world’s hardest Rugby League competition has been a success. He has matched it with some of the biggest names and shown he is up for the challenge. It’s good to see a quality English player come to Australia in their prime and have a crack. It’s a shame we shall never see the likes of James Roby or Kevin Sinfield run around the NRL.
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