Jonathan Thurston wins 2011 golden boot

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-league/2011/12/02/australia-s-four-nations-hero-jonathan-thurston-wins-2011-golden-boot-115875-23604900/
A well deseved award for a man who was the outstanding player in this years Gillette 4 Nations tournament

Class player who has a good season by all accounts , I personelly dont agree i think Tomkins should of got it .

In my opinion i think Sam Tomkins would have got it but for a poor game he had in the 4 Nations final.

when one watches Thurston many times throughout a season its easy to forget that its not just talent that gets him where he is but also a lot of work.
Heres a question for you Northern Hemisphere guys do you think that as a full back that Sam Tomkins is better than Billy Slater,Hayne and Linebreakers little mate from Manly?

aucklandlaurie wrote: when one watches Thurston many times throughout a season its easy to forget that its not just talent that gets him where he is but also a lot of work.
Heres a question for you Northern Hemisphere guys do you think that as a full back that Sam Tomkins is better than Billy Slater,Hayne and Linebreakers little mate from Manly?

I think Sam Tomkins is a better full back than Jarryd Hayne and Brett Stewart. As regards Billy Slater they both are terrific attacking players, but both have defence flaws, but then again then there is no such thing as the perfect player in any team sport.
Can you imagine the attacking prowess of a team with Billy Slater at full back and Sam Tomkins in the halfs.

GH1895
When I asked the question,I was wondering if you would pick up on the defensive flaws of Billy Slater and Tomkins,Slater probably never looks so bad because in the teams he plays for he is part of an attack that scores so many tries, that the ones he lets through arent noticed, and I think Tomkins is somewhat in the same position.
I personally think that fullbacks in the NRL now do not have the defensive qualities of fullbacks 15 or 20 years ago.

I would have thought that Tomkins would be more in the Ben Barba class at the moment but he could certainly move up the ladder swiftly over the next couple of years.

Isn't Hayne moving to five eighth now?

Barba will never be an International fullback,however Tomkins will never score some of the most unbieveable tries that Barba scores.
Hayne is needed as a five eighth at Parramata only because there is no one else in that team that comes near him as a creative playmaker,put it this way if he was to play for city or NSW it would only be as an outside back.Hayne in my opinion is the best kicker of the ball in rugby league.

Firstly, congrats to Thurston for the Golden Boot Award. I guess you have to factor in all his performances at club level (NQC would not have gone as far as they did without him - despite his mid season injury), State and country. Phenomenal performances in 2011.

I must admit I haven't watched every game of Tomkins although he is a very exciting talent on the rise... a bit like Ben Barba but a notch above maybe. I think the Bulldogs will do better in 2012 and Barba will no doubt feature heavily.

When it comes to fullbacks Billy Slater to me is hard to top, Brett Stewart and Jarryd Hayne are simply super talented freaks - although both had slightly below par years compared to previous ones... but still never cease to amaze on a regular basis.

At this level, the defensive attributes of these players is sometimes overlooked - they can defend very well. It's just that with the type of attacks they have to defend against these days - it's nearly impossible to be flawless and be in two places at the same time. Agree with Laurie, Haynes has the ball on a string (like JT) when it comes to kicks and can run the ball back through cutting swathes through the opposition - as can the other guys as well.