Two years ago in a grand final, Canterbury hard man James Graham showed us his bite.
But in Saturday’s 18-17 elimination playoff win over Manly, the British Bulldog demonstrated that his bark might be even worse.
With his side up 16-0 in the first-half, a ferocious Graham unloaded on teammates on two separate occasions for sloppy play as complacency set into Canterbury’s performance.
Mitch Brown was on the receiving end of the first Graham spray for popping an unnecessary offload straight into the hands of Sea Eagles captain Jamie Lyon.
Graham got within inches of Brown’s face and gave him the rounds of the kitchen as he ran back onside.
It wasn’t quite Brett Mullins shoving Mark McLinden at the Canberra Raiders back in 2000, but the aggression was there for all to see.
Then minutes later Graham’s anger appeared directed at halfback Trent Hodkinson, who soon after returning to the field from a knee injury, threw an impossible pass which Brown was unable to take on the left wing.
“What the f***!” screamed Graham, with eyes that could kill.
Hopefully poor Brown didn’t think the big Englishman was coming at him again.
Of course there didn’t appear to be anything personal about the blow ups, and Graham was entirely right – the Bulldogs had fallen asleep.
They failed to score a point when Manly had Josh Starling in the sin-bin, and seconds before halftime, Sea Eagles dummy half Jayden Hodges scored the softest of tries to close the gap to 10.
In the end they only escaped by a whisker.
Also, Graham could hardly be accused of hypocrisy.
By halftime he had 100m from 12 runs, as well as a try assist.
Especially with Hodkinson off the field, Graham’s deft passing and second-man plays made him look like a halfback in a prop’s body.
In the 2012 grand final, Graham completely lost the plot when he bit Melbourne’s Billy Slater on the ear and copped a 12-game suspension.
Saturday night showed Graham is still capable of losing his cool, but tongue lashings are far more constructive than sinking the teeth in.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Joseph Manu is to leave the Sydney Roosters at the end of the 2024 NRL season after the club confirmed his move to Japanese…
South Sydney look set to bolster their beleaguered coaching ranks by bringing David Furner back to the club, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.…
NRL signings, contracts and rosters for the 2024 season.
Matt Bungard of the NRL Boom Rookies Podcast and Oscar Pannifex of Rugby League Writers answered this on the Roar League Podcast. FULL EPISODE:…
Phil Gould has expressed his disappointment on 100% Footy about players like Joey Manu leaving the NRL to go to another code.
Buzz Rothfield from NRL 360 has also questioned why the bunker wasn't involved in looking at the off-side as it ended up costing the…
