HE may be walking out a Grand Finalist once more on Saturday evening, but there was a time during the 2023 Super League season that Sam Tomkins was set to hang up his boots.
Cursed with a recurring knee problem, Tomkins made his way into head coach Steve McNamara’s office where he told the boss he couldn’t carry on.
Fortunately for the Dragons, McNamara managed to calm him down and find solutions for Tomkins to complete the season.
And, his influence was all there to see as the wily fullback scored the winning try against St Helens in the semi-finals at the weekend.
“He was going to retire halfway through the season. He came in the office and said he didn’t think he could carry on at that stage,” McNamara said.
“We had a good chat, calmed him down and thankfully found some solutions for his knee and put him in a position where he could play.
“I think the plan was to play him a little bit less, certainly a little less at the backend of the year than we did, but when we lost those couple of games we had to really dig in and put our best team out there.
“He’s managed it superbly well and it’s hard to say it’s career-best form but it’s not far from it if he’s not there.”
McNamara hailed Tomkins’ response to the issue, labelling it “sensational”.
“He was so frustrated with his knee, it was packing in on him at that stage. We just needed to give him some time, it was a bit of saying I heard him and taking it on board, but to relax, stay calm, have a think about it and see where we get to.
“It certainly wasn’t going to be a gut reaction, it’s emotional when you think your career might be finished and everything else, but the response since then has been sensational.”
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