Never good to see Super League losing its star players, but I guess it's positive to see from a GB/England perspective, as he'll be playing at the highest level consistently.

at least that has some thought to it.

Not just putting a y on the end of their name... Woody, Briersy, Matty Blythey
or an a Mozza, monas

But back on song, We all saw this coming and is no real shock. More interesting will be news on Tony P

Pretty much agree with that, Roddy, but, it's never really worked for Gareth Ellis, who's good international games can be counted on the figers of Zippy from Rainbow's hand, and still have a couple of fingers left.

If he comes back to SL he'll return a much better player. Sad for Saints but good for England.
Who's next I wonder?

Good for Graham.

Had he stayed at Saints much longer he'd have been finished before long. He's been the cornerstone of their pack for way too long, and for me, at times has done way too much work.

Be interesting to see how Canterbury use him, both in minutes and style, will that pass at the line etc be developed or put away.

I've never understood this "good for Great Britain" bit.

Adrian Morley played in the NRL, how many Test series did GB win because of it?
Gareth Ellis and Sam Burgess are in the NRL, it didn't help us last year?

Going back further, Hanley, Davies, Offiah and all those greats had their spells in the NRL. Did we win any Test series against them then?

The NRL isn't taking average English players and turning them into players of Australian standard. The NRL is hand picking the handful of English players who were already at a level able to compete with the Aussies at international anyway. Graham was already a good player. The reason we lose is in the typical Aussie 17 in a Test match there will be about 8 world class players, about 6 very good international players, and about 3 who would be good SL players but could be replaced by a fair number of English players. In the typical English 17 there will be about 2 world class players, about 3 very good international players and the rest are of a mixed standard including players who would not be starters in the NRL.

Now if the NRL took someone like Paul Sykes and he came back as Greg Inglis that might make a difference.

It's good for GB because we get to see our players playing at the highest level, maximising their potential/ability. It may not filter through to results at GB level, but I'd still rather see our playing becoming the best player they can be in Aus.

It's a bit similar to football, I think all England fans would like to see as many players playing in the Champions League as possible. We'll probably never win a thing, but it's still good to see players becoming the best they can be. With enough players reaching their ceiling, it might, just might, result in GB competing with the southern hemisphere.

Well maybe now McGuire is going to Souths he will have a good knowledge of British players so he might take Westwood and Bridge down there? Hopefully he's been taking notice of them, I think they deserve their shot?

Gotta hand it to James Graham for being the first saints player in recent times not to be saying hes going to the NRL just to get an improved contract..

Unlike Sean "I might go play in austrailia" Long
And Keiron "I like a good Barbie" Cunningham

I for one hope he does really well

Good luck to him, he's more than earned the right to have a crack at the NRL.

RL can be a short career and he'd have probably regretted it all his life if he didn't give it a go, he's shown far more class than Eastmond has done in how he's gone about things.

I'm not sure what the Warrington position should be as regards Graham?

Are we supposed to hope that he does well and say oh look another genuine class British forward making it in the NRL?

Or should we be hoping he gets his booty handed to him on a plate by the Aussie forwards, showing him up as an overrated ginger dummy spitter, and proving that he was never in Morley's class.

I need to consult the Warrington position before forming my opinion.

Couldn't be ar53d about Graham

As long he puts in his usual shift, when it comes to pulling an England jersey, I'll be a happy man

If he plays out of his skin/stinks the place out, I wont be losing any sleep.

OR

should we be hoping he gets homesick and comes back after one season... to be welcomed back with open arms by mr morans cheque book ..... just intime to replace the retiring Morley.

Do Stains have a first refusal on him, or has all that malarky been torn up, after the Harris debacle?

He said he would never like to play against Saints which is why moving to another English club was ruled out of the question, so i guess if he were to come back itd be to saints and im sure everyone at saints would be happy to have him back

it's amazing how an open chequebook may change someone's mind

Simple sign him up and drop him everytime we play Saints

How is the nickname 'Monas' equivalent to putting an 'a' on the end of his name????

On a completely unrelated off-topic point, what's the highest factor sun cream goes up to? And will they stock it in Boots, Huyton?

This situation is good for European RL, It would be better if the players that go to the NRL are replaced by top quality home grown / fed trained players who have been coached well and can replace them. Say for example carvel goes to the NRL and Ben Evans gets the move up then that is good for the European game.
Good luck to Graham but He has an aura of Start fielden 6 or 7 years ago about him and I reckon he will not be going over their with the same sort Of respect that Morley or Burgess did.

From what I remember Morley didn't have a great deal of respect from them when he first arrived. Remember at that time (2000) it was an all time low for British RL, all our good players had retired in the mid-90s, we had the farce of the World Club Challenge where Bradford who were undefeated in SL at the time and running away at the top of our league, getting beaten by 60 odd points by Auckland who were bottom of the Aussie league, then the 1999 Tri Nations where we were nearly beaten by the Maori side and Burleigh Bears....the Aussies were laughing their pants off at British RL and when Morley went over as the Great White Hope they were waiting for him to fail. It also didn't help that the team he was going to join was the Roosters who were seen as a team who talked big every year and signed big names who didn't perform.

I remember when they signed him, all the talk was about what a dirty thug he was (he's the only player ever who was pre-loaded with disciplinary points with the judiciary when he started his NRL career, which was bang out of order IMO), and how he might have been hard in SL but he would find it a lot harder to intimidate guys like Gordon Tallis and Ruben Wiki over there. Even in his first season when he broke his arm the jury was out on him and there were plenty of people saying he was not going to make it. It was his second season, when he had an injury free run, when he was the best forward in the NRL and the Roosters won the Grand Final, that he proved himself in the face of a lot of scepticism, and he probably managed to get a level of respect for British players which has now meant guys like Ellis, Burgess and now Graham get received with excitement by their fans. I think Morley had it very hard with a lot of critics, and a lot of Aussie players who would have loved the idea of knocking down the "British enforcer" but for him to prove in the face of that he was not only the most feared but the best forward in the NRL for a few years when the Roosters kept making Grand Finals, I think he is the best forward of his generation.

He was made the best offer that Saints have ever made to any player, but that didn't change his mind. If Saints can't change his mind with money, Warrington certainly won't be able to.

He isn't going for money. He is going for the challenge, to fulfill a lifetime ambition. No monetary value can be placed on that.

I think when lefty was talking about his return after he has his fun/ fails/ get's homesick/is too old for the NRL any more. Although he says he wouldn't want to play against saints it will be three years time and would probably like a nice cheque before he gets moved to Salford or Widnes.

In that case, I am sure he would be tempted by Moran's money bags and the super league champions Warrington (I can hope) offering him a lucrative contract.

I may be mistaken by speaking for lefty. However, I feel there is something to this.

50, i still fry with that on whilst in the south of france!