Sam Tomkins: Pretty ordinary performance against Sharks

A lot has been said about how we had to cover injuries to Tuimoala Lolohea, above, and Dane Nielsen but that is no excuse, writes Tomkins. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

The win over the Cronulla Sharks did not feel great and although we won the game we didn't perform at the level we wanted to.

We showed some determination, but if we had performed to the standards we were aiming for we would have won much more comfortably.

A lot has been said about how we had to cover injuries to Tuimoala Lolohea and Dane Nielsen, with forwards filling in throughout the backline, but that is no excuse.

The Sharks had their captain, Paul Gallen, drop out on the morning of the match and they've lost a number of other players in recent weeks but they still came out and fought really hard and pushed us right to the end.

A win's a win and all the best teams have to win ugly at some point but if we want to be a team that goes on to do something in the playoffs then we need to play better than that.

Personally, I thought my own game was okay but there were a few areas where I could have been stronger. The Sharks' first try came through a bouncing ball in-goal that I could have dealt with better and like our team's performance, I have things to work on ahead of our next game against the Knights on Sunday.

The Knights showed in Saturday's last-minute win over Melbourne that they are not about to give up, despite their 14th position on the competition ladder, and that effort will have given them loads of confidence. They'll know that if they can grind out a tough win against a side like the Storm then they can match it with anybody, so we'll be heading across there trying to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen.

As far as where we sit on the ladder, we realise how easy it is to jump up a few places and also how quickly you can drop down the standings, as we've seen happen with the Bulldogs in recent weeks.

With four rounds to go before the playoffs we're wanting our performances to be as squeaky clean as possible and to make sure that we front up every week. It's the cliche of taking it week to week but that's exactly what we're doing at the moment.

Off the field, I'm pleased that a few rumours about me seeking an early release to return to England have been put to bed.

I've actually found I need to be a little bit more wary when speaking to the New Zealand and Australian media than I do back in England. Back home, the vast majority of the press are on your side and not always searching for a juicy story but I've realised the need to be a bit careful when talking to journalists here. There are certain cases of that in England but just not to the extent that I've found here.

My family and close friends know that I'm really enjoying myself here, so when things are written in the media that say otherwise it doesn't really bother me. I just wouldn't want the lads that I play with or the club thinking that there's something going on like that.

The Warriors have been good to me and I definitely want to stay here for the duration of my contract.