Wants out of dragons contract for return to super league, saints bound or should we go for him?

Dragons releasing that statement will mean its nearly done and it makes little sense for Wire to sign Graham but a lot of sense for St Helens to sign him. Thompson replacement, final swansong for boyhood club etc. Well past his best but he’ll probably do well for a couple of seasons given the standard of SL is so far below the NRL and there are very few good props around.

There might not be now, but I'd imagine Wakefield are a little susceptible to a bid or two and they've got two brilliant forwards. Same with Cas, they'll hardly be rolling in dough, it'll probably cost them thousands just to cut the grass that's grown in their stands over the summer.

Not seen much of Graham since he went to Oz. What is his discipline like ,ball handling etc like generally? Everything else we know he gives 100%.
Any improvement on discipline & ball retention would be a plus for us even for a 12 month contract.

Only place I see him going is Saints.

The timing says Saints.

Discipline not to bad. Had a lot of injury problems in recent years though. Nowhere near the player he once was.

He's apparently done 170 and 140 metres with the ball in games this season and is averaging 100m at loose. He used to regularly do 80 minutes or close, I'd imagine if he's doing 40 in Super League he should be okay, this season at least. He was never the most dynamic player, he didn't smash players left, right and centre it was the volume of effort that made him such a good player. He'd outwork the starting props, then outwork the subs. I'd imagine we'll have him come off after 20 minutes these days.

I do wonder if this move is dependent on De Bellin's court case. That's coming up soon isn't it?

Turn the clock black 5 years+ ago and I’d say most definitely, and SJM tried too, more than once...apparently. Stay clear of signing props 33-35 years of age.
The peak age of a prop is around 27-29. They very quickly fade from 31.
Let’s Saints have him.

Don’t get me wrong it’s a really good signing for Saints. He’s still a solid player. I’d have took him here for a season without a doubt. He’ll do a job for you guys. His leadership and winning mentality alone will be an asset.

It would have been nice to see him back in Super League a season two ago but I agree, still a solid player and well worth a year's contract.

He'd be a quality signing for any club, puts in good minutes, tackles like always and will take a drive in everytime he's asked. He developed good ball handling skills in the NRL and constantly switches his attack. Defenders don't know whether he'll take in a drive or pass the ball. Yeah he doesn't have the legs he used to but he's still a workhorse. Put LMS at prop and Graham at 13 and saints will be fine, I'd take him here for a year any day of the week, he'd put the majority of our forwards to shame. But if he is released he'll definately be going to saints

I hope so as i'd love to see him in Super league one more time

Trial hearing is back in court this Monday for De Belin. He was charged last July.

On Graham he is certainly worth a 1-2 year deal back in the ESL. A pound to a peppercorn he will be back at St Helens maybe in time to celebrate his favourite Premier League football team finally winning the title again!

He'd have a job, he's an Everton fan!

I'll be highly amused if he signs for Cas or Trinity, as unlikely as it may be. Enjoy the second coming.

I think he means that Cas and Wakefield will be highly prone to having clubs poaching their best players, as they aren't the most financially stable?....

And that's exactly why it would be very amusing if Graham signed for one of them.

Not done much home work has he probably just considering the Yorks clubs wanting to reduce the cap. In any event the game needs to stabilise and have a clear plan perhaps increasing teams in SL over an incremental time without relegation this would allow the UK game to develop its own talent instead of bringing in players from overseas at the end of their careers.

This, he's a brilliant prop and there is still life in the old dog yet. I can't see it being anywhere but saints and he will be a great signing for them, not as useful as Thompson in the long term but in the short term I don't think they will be weakened at all if they bring Graham back.

Correct, just makes sweeping statements on financial matters at all sorts of clubs, without having any real tangible knowledge behind them.

Sweeping financial statements? Which ones would they be? The jokes about the Wire cap and suggesting Wakefield and Cas might consider a bid for their players at the moment? Hardly making outrageous claims there.

The sweeping statements are all over our board, you even made one regarding Thompson. Not jokes, just your perception without any truth behind your comments, on financial matters at a number of clubs.

Stop pretending you didn't make any, and where did anyone say they were outrageous.

I think you are just going at Saddened because he's a Saints fan - what he says isn't exactly recent news, with regards to Cas and Wakey. Both are financially 2nd or 3rd tier. It's an embarrassment for our league that they are still allowed to be in the league in their present facilities.

As for his jibes at our financial dealings - even some of our own fans have had a genuine curiosity at some of our dealings over the years.

Saddened's posts are just trolling in the main, dressed up as somebody pretending to be our friend. Him being a Saints fan is irrelevant. The current financial footing of each and every club is not wholly in the public domain, and it's just guess work of how severe the issues from Covid19 affects each and every one. Lenegan has made a statement to Wigan supporters, looking for help to address what may well be a crisis, and other chairmen may follow suit. We'll just have to wait and see what comes to pass in the wake of this pandemic. As a collective, the future for SL is at best, rather uncertain. How uncertain, well, that is just guess work and conjecture.

They have managed to field competitive teams despite having a 2nd or 3rd tier budget. If you look at Castleford's recruitment and squad management over the period that Daryl Powell has been there and compare it to ours with presumably a 1st tier budget and modern facilities, the embarassment is on us



Anyway you may get your wish over the next few years as the aftermath of covid and the post-Brexit recession will likely push a few clubs to the wall and we may need to take a hard look at having a consolidation of the league with fewer clubs if the sport is to continue, and merged 'franchises'. But at some point that conversation might come to Warrington as well and ask is RL really viable in a town like Warrington without constant funding being pumped in by an owner. We don't have a huge stadium but it's not as though we have filled it and I wonder what the ceiling is for a club like us.