I believe we are agreeing on one point: They could wear either. I merely disagree with the statement that SAM should be pigeonholed into fending armor.

While yes, most DRG gear is just tank gear modded to look lighter that is the point i wish to get across, i want a "lighter" tank. And if we can shake up the bag of norms in the meanwhile, why not? Another tank wearing the same gear as the three others. Dont you think it would be just a wee bit boring? What about the fifth tank they add? should it also have fending armor? sixth? Why should the dps then have their individual grinds when four tanks can share their gear?

One point against this would be gearing tanks as this would unable these samurais the ability to share gear with the other tanks, making gearing them all more tiresome. However as stated above, gearing dps classes is already tiresome, so all in all it would only mean more equal grinds, would it not?

edit:
If DRG's gain acces to a geared tank when they themselves gear up, dont you think just a few of them would be more tempted to try it out?