Re: Graham confirmed - Bulldogs bound - Good Luck to you : Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:23 am  

Big shame in this for me is that Jammer will need to be replaced by an import. We're pretty well placed at the moment, with less imports than all our main rivals (I think), which is something to be proud of.

Even if we could replace Jammer with an identical player from Oz, I wouldn't get the same enjoyment as I would watching a Brit.

Re: Graham confirmed - Bulldogs bound - Good Luck to you : Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:52 am  

FearTheVee wrote:

Big shame in this for me is that Jammer will need to be replaced by an import. We're pretty well placed at the moment, with less imports than all our main rivals (I think), which is something to be proud of.

Even if we could replace Jammer with an identical player from Oz, I wouldn't get the same enjoyment as I would watching a Brit.

We could replace him internally as we seem to only be looking at back rowers inthe Nelson at the moment.

Re: Graham confirmed - Bulldogs bound - Good Luck to you : Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:08 pm  

[quote="Mugwump"]We must also remember that despite hailing from the region Graham was not a St. Helens lad. I've always thought non-local players are more likely to move because they do not have quite the same emotional connection. A St. Helens lad will have St. Helens relatives making it just that bit harder to move (not least because of the peer pressure they are likely to exert).

I thought that James Grahams Father was from St Helens and that James has been a Saints fan since he was eleven years old and that he came from the Saints youth system which should be sufficient emotional connection for it to be a difficult decision for him.

Re: Graham confirmed - Bulldogs bound - Good Luck to you : Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:50 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

We could replace him internally as we seem to only be looking at back rowers inthe Nelson at the moment.

Unbelievable. That is auto-correction text input for you. We're looking for back rowers in the Nelson

[Frosties.]

Re: Graham confirmed - Bulldogs bound - Good Luck to you : Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:38 am  

Anthony Laffranchi also linked with Leeds

Re: Graham confirmed - Bulldogs bound - Good Luck to you : Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:43 am  

Saddened! wrote:

We could replace him internally as we seem to only be looking at back rowers inthe Nelson at the moment.

Not a chance we could replace him internally. We've nothing anywhere near good enough.

I don't fancy going in with frodsham as our first choice prop! IMO I don't think clough will be anything more than a ok club player. Clough is the type of player all clubs need. He just gets on with job with no fuss and never let's us down. He's a great club man.

The only player we had that could replace Graham internally is now playing for cas.

Re: Graham confirmed - Bulldogs bound - Good Luck to you : Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:22 am  

St pete wrote:

Not a chance we could replace him internally. We've nothing anywhere near good enough.

I don't fancy going in with frodsham as our first choice prop! IMO I don't think clough will be anything more than a ok club player. Clough is the type of player all clubs need. He just gets on with job with no fuss and never let's us down. He's a great club man.

The only player we had that could replace Graham internally is now playing for cas.

Nah I think Foz is a bit old now.

Re: Graham confirmed - Bulldogs bound - Good Luck to you : Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:15 pm  

Hmmmmm. Not so sure about the rationale about being challenged by the best in the form of the NRL competition.

Reading Joel "Barker" Monahan's comments today to sky such as

admiting that the more open style of play in the northern hemisphere suits him better, and believes that there is great strength in depth in the competition.

"I think the quality now is a lot higher," said the former Raider who played for Australia in the 2008 World Cup final.
"As an outside back the structure suits me - they like to throw the ball around more than they did back home.
"The quality of players in all the teams it's a very strong league. I think most teams would rival an NRL team."

Although we only have the WCC to compare the strenegths between the two leagues, he confirms what I have believed for a few years now; that the top 4 or 5 teams from our league would hold their own against the equivalent NRL. (I believe that teams like salford and the crusaders would still get slaughtered)