Sam Tomkins: Pressure to perform builds high personal expectations

Simon Mannering of the Warriors runs the ball during the round two NRL match between the Canberra Raiders and the New Zealand Warriors at GIO Stadium. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

Plenty of people have asked me if I feel like I've proved myself in the NRL, and my response is always the same: I've not played as well as I would have liked every single week but it certainly hasn't been a failure.

The good thing is I've got the rest of this year to make my mark and create some really good memories with the boys.

Expectations are high for me to deliver throughout the second half of the season and, while I've been happy with my play since joining the Warriors, I know I haven't maintained my best form week-to-week.

That could be said of our team as a whole last year. We'd play well some weeks and then have games where we'd be a little bit quiet and my form probably followed that trend.

We've improved as a side this season and I know I've got better football in me, too. I want to show that throughout the remainder of the year.

There is always pressure to perform but I certainly don't feel like I have to prove myself to Warriors fans. They have been brilliant towards me since the day I arrived and nothing but supportive of my efforts for the club.

There'll be no time for me to ease my way back in after injury and I'm determined to show my best form when I make my playing return for the Warriors against the Newcastle Knights tomorrow.

I've really enjoyed the challenge of playing in the NRL and my game has grown over the past 18 months.

Plenty of people want to compare the standards of the Super League and the NRL but, really, there are only subtle differences to the way teams from both competitions play.

At Wigan, I was mostly used out wide late in sets when we'd launch our big strike plays. I have that role here at the Warriors, too, but we also have a lot of big guys who can offload and I've had to get into the habit of trailing them around the middle of the park looking for opportunities.

It's been disappointing I haven't been able to take the field more often alongside Thomas Leuluai, because we had a good combination going from our time together at Wigan.

Last year he was injured for a long time and we got to play only 10 or 12 games together. He was going great in the No9 jersey this year before he hurt his knee in our last game against Parramatta, just as I was getting ready to make my return.

Tomorrow's game looms as a difficult challenge as the Knights have competed well in recent games but been unlucky not to get the results they were wanting.

We're under no illusions they will arrive here fired up to get their campaign back on track and we're prepared to get back into the grind and work hard on defence as the boys did in the last two wins over the Sharks and Eels.

Those two results have given us plenty of confidence and we know now we can win those tight games by trusting our defence and being more desperate than the opposition.

It's well known rival teams believed for a long time that if you stick with the Warriors for the bulk of a match they would fall away at the end but we've shown in recent weeks that isn't the case anymore.