League: Tomkins playing hard for Vegas trip

Glen Fisiiahi and Sam Tomkins of the Warriors celebrate the try of Dominique Peyroux during the match between the New Zealand Warriors and the Manly Sea Eagles. Photo / Getty Images

Every player at the Auckland Nines wants to win for different reasons; for Sam Tomkins it's so the Warriors can use the prize money for an end-of-year trip to Las Vegas.

The new Warriors fullback has some experience of Sin City, having holidayed there after last year's World Cup on his way to Auckland and might have been joking about his plans - it's hard to know with his dead-pan Lancashire ways.

Even more than a return journey to Vegas, Tomkins just wants to win and illustrated his competitiveness yesterday. It's something that is rubbing off on his new team-mates and there's a hope he can turn them into NRL title contenders.

It would certainly help if he can score tries at the rate he did with Wigan when he touched down an incredible 144 times in 151 games.

"He's done exactly what I thought he was going to do," Warriors captain and playmaker Shaun Johnson said. "He's been sharp, competitive. He's not the biggest player but he's got a big heart and every time he runs that ball he runs it like he's a prop, throws himself into the line."

There's considerable pressure on Tomkins, not least of all because of the significant transfer fee the Warriors paid Wigan for him.

"I thought I would be nervous but I was OK ... probably because it is nines," he said. "When round one [of the NRL] comes around I probably will be."

But on first evidence, and admittedly in the stripped-down nines, he looks to be worth it.

The 24-year-old is elusive and fast and made a difference from the outset yesterday. His first touch against the Raiders was a clever scoop from dummy half and he beat a couple of defenders before flinging the ball wide for Glen Fisiiahi to score. His second major contribution saw him weave his way around another couple of Raiders defenders to set up a jinking Johnson to score.

Tomkins was quieter in the game against Manly, and he kicked a re-start out on the full - but still set up Johnson for another try with an elusive run and timely pass.

Encouraging, too, was his awareness of not overplaying his hand.

"I kicked out on the full so it's not all going to plan but [I was] relatively happy," Tomkins said. "I definitely want to win so we can all go to Vegas at the end of the year with the winning money. We are also desperate to put on a good performance for these fans. They have paid hard-earned money to come and support us for two days so we are looking to repay them a little bit."

Tomkins has clearly made an impression on his team-mates, but they have also impressed him.

"There are a lot of big blokes who have feet like wingers, which is good. If you look across at some of the big fellas, some of the footwork they've got is stuff you can't really teach. I think we need to capitalise on that."