#18 James Graham
Some may feel that I'm jumping the gun a bit here by thrusting Graham so far up the rankings after just one year in the NRL, but his impact more than justified it. Funnily enough, his play to me warranted a higher ranking than his Doggies prop team mate and Dally M Prop of the year Sam Kasiano. Although Graham came off the bench in all but 2 games for the Dogs in 2012 behind starting props Kasiano and Tolman, Graham would check in relatively early, often for Kasiano around 10-15 minutes, and then happily see out the rest of the game if necessary. Although he's a fresh face to the NRL, Graham has been around the track and back many times, at 27 he made the voyage to Australia after serving English club side St Helens for 9 seasons and 220 games, regularly appearing in Super League Grand Finals and racking up Challenge Cups. He's also played 21 internationals for England and Great Britain since 2006, and captained England in 2008. Graham sought to test himself in the worlds greatest Rugby League competition, and made an immediate impact with 16 runs 115 metres and 48 tackles in 67 minutes on début Any questions of Graham were quickly put to rest and by the end of the year he was being discussed as one of the elite props in the competition.
Traditional English pleasantries
The 2008 Man of Steel and 2008 RLIF International Prop of the Year winner packs a good punch at 188cm and 106kg. The most impressive thing about him is his work rate, he goes through an absolutely monstrous amount of work for a guy playing the prop position. Pay no attention to the fact that he wasn't one of the "starters", that was a tactical decision from the Bulldogs rather than any reflection on his ability. Graham would make his way onto the field much earlier than most reserve props generally first check in, and then basically would not budge. The Dogs could roll him out around the 15 minute mark, and then just leave him on for the rest of the game. Come the 80 minute whistle, Graham usually looks like he'd happily run around for another couple of hours if you gave him the opportunity and while he's out there, he's putting in work. He was 7th in the NRL in runs with 373 and 18th in metres with 3021, he's also a tackling machine as reflected in the huge tackle count in only his first NRL game. As seems to be a requirement of all forwards at the Bulldogs, he's also got a nice passing game. He has a good ability to put guys through a gap, and there's always plenty of blokes running on to the ball for the Dogs.
Graham's offering of tea and biscuits went down swimmingly
As exemplified in the video above, what separates Graham from being just a really good, hard working footy player, into one of the top tier props in the game is his aggressiveness. He seems like a pretty good bloke off the field, but once he steps over the white line, he is ferocious. He embraces the physical nature of the sport, he loves running into people and hurting them, he loves people running at him and hurting them, the more physical the game gets, the better Graham becomes. He shies away from nothing, and although he gets riled up, he isn't inclined to give away silly penalties, instead he'll just run at you harder, or he'll put a little extra into the next shot he puts on you. It's this mentality that makes Graham such a great package, he's got the skills, he's got the stamina, and he's got a real killer instinct. He certainly approached the game like he had something to prove to the NRL, and he delivered. You might even say he's a real mongrel...
Unfortunately Graham took the whole "Bulldogs" thing a little too far
Heading into 2013, the Bulldogs figure to once again be amongst the top of the table and vying for a premiership, but Graham's uncontrollable hunger in the Grand Final will see him missing 12 games. While this is obviously a massive blow for Graham's 2013 season, expect him to be extremely anxious when he is finally let off the collar and back onto the park. With a season of NRL footy under his belt, and the pent up frustration of sitting on the sidelines for nearly half the season, Graham seems primed to explode in the second half of the 2013 year. Caging Graham up for 12 games may in the long run prove beneficial for the Dogs, they certainly have the troops to cover for his absence, and then a fresh, hungry (though hopefully not too hungry) Graham will enter the fray.
Oooooooh, Duff luck
Check back in tomorrow as we move on to number 17 and what kind of positive spin I can put on that number. Any comments or criticisms, get at me on Twitter @WellsNorthShore
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