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.