Gee......I didn't think it possible for one post to contain so much ****, you must have been taking lessons from Dilly Massage. Jammer is not only the best forward in SL today, he's probably the best prop that England has produced in the last 25 years.

=#8040FFFielden at his best was a better player, Peacock is better, and certainly was a few years ago, same goes for Morley.

I think one thing the NRL teams are good art are spotting potential. Graham will become a better player. I tihnk Fielden, Peacock and Morley are either the finished article or past their best.

=#8000FFHe will improve no end because not one coach in the NRL will take half of the stuff Graham does as acceptable for a prop, and he will get less game time meaning he can actually hit the line and try and break a tackle, and won't burn out like Fielden did, who also played 80 mins weekly at one stage.

Every top British player that goes down under further lessons the chances of Britain ever being able to compete with Australia.

Yes for a few brief years it might improve slightly those players that emigrate, however it irreperably weakens the UK competition.

A lower standard uk competition will result in lower grade players and lower gates. Which in term will mean a sport going into decline.

If you doubt this, check out what happened in the late 1960's and ealry 1970's when there was an exodus of UK talent down under. During this period the likes of Tommy Bishop, Cliff Watson, Mal Reilly & Mick Stevenson all swapped continents.
The end result was a collapse in standards within the UK and a decline in fans watching the sport. We havent defeated the aussies since.

Quite right.

I would also question whether the players that go the NRL actually do come back better players.

Some do, some don't, as with anything. Despite only having a brief spell over there Jordan Tansey seems to have come back a different player. Chris Thorman on the other hand is currently at York.

Oh god not another pom possibly coming to Australia.

3 is enough.


Thank god none are joining my club

3?? Think you need a recount son.

Oh god.

There are more than 3?

There is Eliss, Burgess... that bloke who plays for The Storm...Widdles was it or something?

Apologies but I can't think of any more.

Mind you the amount of attention I pay to players from developing nations in the NRL ranks only slightly above my interest in what goes into a box of Tescos frozen microchips

Henderson, Flanagan off the top of my head, there's two more.

Our pack more than matched the Aussies. It's the backs that let us down.

We dont produce good enough backs. Graham will be a awesome player whether he stays in the UK or moves to OZ.

I wish people would stop licking the ring holes of people from down under.

well said! Alot of english players (brough,roby,briers etc) would be classed as legends if they had an oz accent

I challenge you to find one coach in the world who would prefer dowes or huby to graham! Or Morley or peacock either for that matter.

If he goes to the NRL his game will change as he wouldn't be asked to play 80 minutes very often at all.

Good for him I say.

Wonder if Ryan Bailey fancies following Graham to the NRL so they can continue their argument.

=#8040FFI never said Dowes or Huby were better, just that they put up similar stats in less game time, meaning Graham is over rated, and there's at least 2 coaches who would have Peacock & Morley in front of Graham.

No there isnt

Being a prop myself I can see that this is a load of rubbish. A prop's just isn't just to break the line. James Graham is playing a smart forwards game, he's hitting the line, taking out 2/3 players to tackle him, then finding the floor quickly and getting up to play the ball. There is nothing to be gained from wrestling with 2 or 3 players aside from wasting your energy. When you say "playing as a stand off." This is a technique used to create indecision in the defensive line, instead of giving yourself up carrying the ball under one arm, the ball is carried in two hands with a pushing player coming up with you. This gives you the opportunity to hit up, or get infront of the line and pass the ball, either way this is creating uncertainty in the defensive line.

Graham isn't so impressive because of the metres he makes per carry but just the fact he makes so many carries. He must have one of the best engines i've ever seen from a prop and he plays like a demon. He will take a drive in, play the ball and then get ready to take his next drive in and he goes on and on and on and on.

Guys like Huby and Dowes simply can't do that and to be fair theres not many props in the world that can. Due to his age he doesn't quite have that aura of a Peacock or Morley but he'll get that in time. In all honesty he's probably now a better player then the pair of them.

=#8040FFSurely he would be better suited to hitting the line and looking for an offload, creating an overlap in doing so, or is that just a second rowers thing?

If you have somebody pushing with you, this will create uncertainty in the line and can create overlaps. The idea is as a prop you take the ball in and draw in the A defender, you can then either step out, or step in taking that man with you. Next time we're on Sky watch Graham's footwork, that's exactly what he does.

Everyone seems to be overlooking one quite important fact about James Graham.





If you remove your red and white tinted sunnies ....he isn't actually all that good......

the guy trying to sign graham is the same guy who spotted billy slater, greg inglis and israel folau

so yeah the roosters dont know what they are doing chasing graham