The stats only tell part of the story. He is such a good read of the game, he seems to know where to be, and he backs that up with a big engine and a lot of hard work that doesn't get attention. Two examples from yesterdays game.
1. He is the first guy there ready to defend when Meaney stops Bradman Best's run down the sideline.
2. With a little under 6 minutes to go Newcastle on attack spread it wide to their right, and you can see we are outnumbered as each of our defenders commits, edge forward, Foran, centre, winger. Meaney is the last line of defense against their winger and he doesn't nail him. If Tolman doesn't pop up right then their winger has a clear run for the line, but he is there and the winger ends up going back infield, the play is shut down by Holland centre field. Newcastle immediately send it left but in their effort to break through they lose the ball, who is right there when the ball is lost, ready to defend if the ball isn't lost? Tolman. The guy was covering to within 5 metres of each sideline within the space of two plays.
Encouragingly the guy who was inside Tolman in cover defense down the right with 6 minutes to go was Thompson. If he has got similar footy instincts as Tolman he is going to a key player for seasons to come.
Unfortunately Tolman is past his best, but even then he is a good first grader, and he doesn't get enough credit for the work he does that doesn't attract attention. Sure he scored a try and did a handy offload to Foran and ran 200m yesterday, hence he is getting attention today. But the true mark of how valuable a player is comes from the players who line up next to them. I'll bet his teammates wouldn't mind having him around for another season or two.
