Can't believe it took 4 pages for someone to confirm this .....

As James Graham's biggest fan (when in an England jumper at least) he has had better nights than Friday. Was nowhere near fit, and it showed! To be fair to him though, he stuck a bit of grung in, unlike LMS and Clough who were too busy cowering in the stands. Him and Perry will terrorise the league though, a tough bugger who will get him on the front foot for him to take it to the line and vary the play with his hands. Saints will struggle as long as Moore, Clough and that over-rated, under-spirited, general banker Kyle Eastmond get a jersey... Union are welcome to you you pretencious little bas*****

I'm still undecided as to whether I think James Graham is worth all the hype or not.

On his day, he can be the best prop in the competition. And there's no point arguing with that, I'm almost 100% certain that the opta stats (if they would make them available to us all in any useful format) would back me up.

The problem is, he can also be the most petulant unplesant dummy spitting s*** on the field since Lee Briers in his pomp. His sin-binning in the last years' Grand Final was just reward for him after an entire season of him gobbing off at the referee every time something didn't go saints' way, and the fact it took every game of the season until the final show piece event for the ref to finally get tired of it and show him the yellow is more an indictment against our referees than it is against Graham, if he had been treated in the correct manner over his behavioural fault during the course of the regular season he may well have learned to control himself in a more professional manner.

As for props standing up for themselves and keeping face - I think there may be something in that. Stuart Fielden was once one of the most respected and feared props in our league. Then he squared up to big Willie Mason and got dropped with a single punch, Fielden, IMO, has never been the same player since then and he certainly hasn't ever squared up to his opponents in the same manner that he used to since then, either. He is a shadow of the bullying, intimidating and effective enforcer that he used to be at Bradford.

And before any of our saints' brethren come along and make the "my dad's bigger than your dad" level of argument, yes, I'm well aware that Lee Briers ought to have been sin-binned far more frequently in his career than he has been for the same ref-whinging-behaviour.

nah fielden still does the angry face and gesticulating, just from further away.

Exactly. Once upon a time he used to get up and aim punches at everyone, doing absolutely everything but connect with it - and when he was doing it, and when people believed he was capable, it worked - it scared the crap out of the majority of forward packs in the league.

Now, I think most of the forward packs just quietly giggle at him everytime he tries it.

He can be the best prop in the world, when he wants to be.. Runs strong, agile for a big fella with the hands of a stand off! With the right front row partner he could be astonsihing! LMS isnt the right one though, he is trying to hard to be his own 'maverick'

Out of interest (only because i haven't seen it for so long) if you give the ref lip after a penalty, can he still give the attacking team an extra 10 metres ?

Pretty sure you can. Although now you mention it, I'm struggling to think of the last time I saw it happen, too.

It is still allowed, just officials no longer have the 'go-nads' to give it... other than Ganson that is

Talking of whinging at the ref: what was Wellans moaning/appealing about to Bentham when Anderson scored his try?

I would dispute this. In fact, I think you might be sucking up to your Saints-supporting mates.

Briers has always been a savvy half-back but he has never been anything like the whinger Graham is. I'm not saying he hasn't overstepped the mark on occasion, but Graham takes umbrage every time someone tackles him.