Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past seven days.

1. Tomkins to Wigan?
As discussed in last week’s column it has now been confirmed that England full back Sam Tomkins will leave New Zealand Warriors at the end of the 2015 season and return to the UK.

Even though Tomkins has admitted he has nothing definite lined up, it appears that everyone thinks it is nailed on that he will return to Super League, although some media outlets have a belief that if he does he is not guaranteed to return to his former club Wigan Warriors.

I think this is rubbish and I would be genuinely shocked if he returned to another Super League club. If he did he would lose a huge amount of respect from Wigan fans and I don’t think this is something that he will want to do.

He loves the club too much and will not want to be seen as just a mercenary who is chasing the money. He has confirmed that he will not be playing rugby union next year and I would put money on him replacing Matty Bowen as the Wigan Warriors fullback, a move that will probably see the retirement of the outstanding Bowen.

I don’t think the Kiwis will be too upset as they have pre-empted this decision and signed New Zealand international Roger Tuivasa-Scheck on a bumper three-year contract from Sydney Roosters worth A$800,000 per year.

2. Canberra have got a star
Just after the Tomkins announcement came the news that Catalans Dragons English forward Elliott Whitehead has signed a two-year deal with the Canberra Raiders in the NRL. I am gutted about this as he is a player that I enjoy watching and it would have been great to see him in the red and white of my Hull Kingston Rovers.

I would have liked to have seen him stay in Super League but if he has the desire to try his hand in the premier competition in the world, then good luck to him. I believe he has the skills and athletic ability to be a success in Australia aligned with a strong mental attitude that will ensure he succeeds. He had an outstanding 2014 season in which he finished as the leading try-scoring forward in the competition and made the England Four Nations squad.

Undoubtedly he should have been given far more game time than he did and lost out to Joel Tomkins – a decision which I found ridiculous. Whitehead will join fellow England international Josh Hodgson in the Australian capital and hopefully he will settle in as well and as quickly as Hodgson, who has impressed everyone with his performances in the green of the Raiders.

3. Chase banned for seven games for cowardly ‘tackle’
Salford Red Devils have been hit hard by the RFL disciplinary committee this week. The Red Devils found form over the Easter weekend with wins at Huddersfield Giants and at home to Wigan Warriors but they will now be without two of their form players.

Forward Weller Hauraki has been banned for four games for two offences over the weekend including being sent off for striking against Wigan on Easter Monday, but the big news this week has been the Rangi Chase ‘tackle’ on Huddersfield Giants forward Brett Ferres.

Chase has been found guilty of a so called ‘cannonball’ tackle. Chase did not affect the tackle with malice but he should have been fully aware of the potential damage he could do to a fellow player when hitting the standing leg behind the knee. He deserves this severe ban.

It’s likely that Ferres will miss at least four months of action due to injury. Giants coach Paul Anderson was left fuming at the challenge and called Chase ‘cowardly’, while Red Devils coach Iestyn Harris called the charge against Chase ‘ridiculous’. It’s amazing how two people can see the same thing so differently.

A lot of Salford fans reacted angrily to the ban on social media while the rest of the rugby league fraternity agreed with it. Some thought it should be even harsher. It will be interesting to see how Salford cope without their talisman starting with the visit of league leaders Leeds Rhinos on Sunday.

4. James Graham banned for four matches
On to another ‘tackle’ now that has caused controversy on the other side of the world and this time I have to say that I cannot agree that the James Graham challenge on South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds was illegal. The Good Friday match between Canterbury Bulldogs and the Rabbitohs was a tight and physical affair and the Bulldogs led 17-16 going into the final two minutes of the match.

Graham saw that the Rabbitohs had set up for a drop goal to level the match and charged at Reynolds in the hope of putting the kicker off. It is clear from the video that Graham’s head was down and he was not aware of the position of the kicker.

Reynolds got the kick away but the pressure from Graham worked and the attempt was well off target – however, Graham hit Reynolds standing leg and it appears Reynolds has suffered a nasty knee injury. The Rabbitohs trainer was already on the pitch and Graham immediately called him over to look after Reynolds and received a mouthful from the trainer which seems to have put Graham in a bad mood instantly.

The fact he was penalised for the challenge added to his rage as he knew the Rabbitohs had a simple goal kick to take the lead with not much time left. For what it’s worth, I don’t think the challenge should have been penalised. Graham did not intentionally attack the standing leg of Reynolds but his momentum took him through and he made contact with the leg at a vulnerable moment.

Players get injured in every match whether it’s from an intentional challenge or not and we do not penalise based on injuries. It is a shame that a player of Reynolds’ calibre will be missing from the game for a while but I do not think Graham’s challenge was illegal.

Graham was obviously ‘pumped’ because of this decision and it’s ramifications and he has a huge amount of passion but that does not excuse his actions towards referee Gerard Sutton. Along with teammate David Klemmer he harangued and verbally abused the referee continuously using foul language and pointing and warrants a ban for these actions.

His actions helped to incite the Bulldogs fans who were already furious at losing the game in such controversial circumstances and they started throwing bottles at the officials as they left the field, leading to one of them slipping and breaking his collarbone.

Graham is the captain of a great club and quickly issued an apology for his actions in the aftermath of the game but I think this all stemmed from a challenge that was unfortunate but one that should not have been penalised – however, Graham’s subsequent actions ensured he deserved some censure.

5. New Zealand to play Leeds
Leeds Rhinos announced recently that they will take on the New Zealand tourists on Friday October 23rd as a warm up for the Kiwis prior to the three Test series against England and to mark the 125th anniversary of the Headingley stadium.

I think it is very poor that they are playing this match to celebrate a stadium (however old and great it is) when 65 miles up the M62 Hull FC are marking the 150th anniversary as the founding member of the Rugby Football League.

I know the first Test will be held at the KC Stadium nine days later and they probably want to spread the games around a bit but this is an important anniversary. Hull FC have a lot of history with Kiwi players including current New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney.

In the mid 1980s they signed New Zealand internationals James Leuluai, Gary Kemble, Dane O’Hara and Fred Ah Kuoi and these players have become legends of the club and are fondly remembered 30 years later. In more recent times they have signed Kiwi captains Richard Swain and Kearney among others. I know the club have plans for a celebration to coincide with the first Test but I think it would have been very fitting to award this tour match to Hull FC to mark their anniversary (and I’m a Hull KR fan)!

6. Brad Thorn retires
It was announced this week that Brad Thorn will retire from professional rugby at the end of this season at the age of 40. I have not really followed the career of Thorn and was surprised he was still playing, but I’ve done some research and this guy must be the greatest cross code player of all time.

When we think cross coders we primarily think of Sonny Bill Williams in the modern age, Wendell Sailor, Matt Rogers, Lote Tuqiri and Jason Robinson a bit further down the line and I always hark back to Jonathan Davies and Martin Offiah going back to the 90s.

But all of those mentioned played in the backs (although Sonny Bill Williams was a rugby league forward) and it is very rare for a rugby league forward to succeed in a rugby union pack.

Thorn was born in New Zealand but relocated to Australia with his family at the age of eight and played junior rugby league in Queensland. He was signed up by the Brisbane Broncos and played 200 games for the club in two spells (1994-2000 and 2005-2007) winning Super League and World Club Championship titles in 1997 and three Premiership titles in 1999, 2000 and 2006.

He also played for Queensland in 14 State of Origin games and represented his adopted Australia in eight Test Matches. In rugby union he made 59 Test match appearances for the legendary New Zealand All Blacks, which included winning the 2011 World Cup.

He won two National Provincial Championships in New Zealand with Canterbury, the Super 12 competition with Crusaders and the European Cup with Leinster and thus became the first player to win a Super 12, European Cup and World Cup. Thorn was a hard working consistent back rower in league and he made the transition to lock forward in union without too much trouble.

He is currently seeing out his stellar career in England with Leicester Tigers and will finish up at the end of the season. He may not be as high profile as SBW or Sam Burgess but there is no doubt both is those will struggle to have a career as successful as Thorn’s.

A bit of extra time thinking
Talking of Sam Burgess, he will make his first starting appearance at flanker for Bath at Newcastle Falcons this week. All of his previous first team appearances have come at outside centre and it is a big move to put him in the pack although he does have the size and athletic ability to play in this position. It’s a much more technical game when you play in a union pack and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

It’s probably pretty clear now that he won’t make the England World Cup squad and we’ll see if that affects his short term plans, as a lot of clubs will be looking at him for next year if there is a hint of a chance he might turn his back on rugby union.

Congratulations to Leeds Rhinos legend Kevin Sinfield who became only the fourth player in the history of the game to break the 4,000-point barrier after legends of the game Neil Fox, Jim Sullivan and Gus Risman. Sinfield is now on 4,011 points and will go past Risman’s 4,050 points to claim third place on the all time list before he retires at the end of the year.

There are a few rumours flying about at the moment including the potential of Gareth Widdop and Mickey Paea signing for Leeds Rhinos in 2016. I don’t think there is a chance of Widdop moving to the Rhinos as they probably could not afford him, he is under contract at the Dragons and the Rhinos have a readymade replacement for Kevin Sinfield in youngster Liam Sutcliffe who was outstanding while Sinfield was out injured recently.

Paea is coming to the end of his two-year contract at Hull FC and has history of going to the highest bidder. At the end of 2013, Hull KR offered Paea a contract extension but he went over to the darkside of Hull for more money and hasn’t that been a successful move?

The Rhinos are losing Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai at the end of the year and are on the look out for props.

Warrington Wolves are struggling at the moment and have lost four games in a row. The rumour is that they will make a major play for Storm, Queensland and Australia halfback Cooper Cronk for 2016 and beyond. They have a millionaire backer in Simon Moran and if Super League brings in a marquee player rule then anything is possible.

The final rumour is of a player going the other way with Todd Carney pushing for a release from Catalans Dragons to return to the NRL with the club that sacked him just last year, Cronulla Sharks. Both of these would be major moves if they came off.

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69.