With the Raiders beginning to cultivate a little England of sorts in the nation's capital, we have decided to look back at the top five players to transition from the Super League to the superior NRL. While the last few years have seen some Englishmen not live up to the hype after arriving in the NRL, such as Lee Mossop, Sam Tomkins, and the supposed English SBW Andre Savelio, the men listed below are on the opposite end of the scale. With a few of them even set to go down as greats at their club.
I have decided to profile players who made the switch after the NRL era (1998-present) began, as well as only picking players who have transitioned from the Super League across to the NRL. Which excludes St George Illawarraโs Gareth Widdop, who came through the junior systems at the Melbourne Storm.
3. James Graham
Having racked up an incredible 225 Super League games for his junior club St Helens before signing for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, James Graham has proven himself to be one of the most durable athletes in the world following his move to Australia.
Having joined the Bulldogs at 26, Graham would go on to have an extremely successful five-year stint at the Bulldogs, cementing himself as a favourite amongst his teammates and fans.
Graham would rack up 135 games for the Dogs, including two Grand Final losses as well as earning the prestige of being named club captain in the Bulldogs' 80th season.
After taking 2012 Dally M Prop of the Year Sam Kasiano's starting jersey, Graham would go onto collect the honour himself in 2014. Coming as a result of his hard-hitting and brave carries, but Graham also has other subtleties to his game that set him apart from other front rowers. Particularly his late ball-playing ability at the line, which Des Hasler would often utilise to suck in wide defenders before Graham would throw a more often than not perfectly executed pass out the back.
While his on-field ability speaks for itself, Graham is also widely renowned as one of the most inspirational players in the competition. With his leadership qualities often being cited by other teammates for taking their game to the next level. Graham displayed this inspirational sentiment in the 2017 RLWC final against Australia, in which he effectively took on a stacked Australian forward pack alone after an underwhelming performance from the Burgess boys.
After being forced out of the Bulldogs due to salary cap issues, Graham was chased heavily by the Dragons, who believed his leadership skills could have a positive influence on the spate of young forwards they had coming through. Graham went onto sign a three-year deal with St George Illawarra.
To date, the man known as Bupa has played an incredible 435 games for club and country, a testament to his durability. With Graham on contract with the Dragons for another two seasons, he harbours hopes of claiming an elusive NRL premiership with the Red V.
Where’s Jordan Turner?
Adrian Morley was more dominant than the three Burgess Brothers put together๐ช๐คฃ๐—–๐ฑ