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Lyon's verdict on James Graham

Fairleigh Good!

Juniors
Messages
1,185
From Sportinglife.com:

LYON LOOKS FOR CENTRE STAGE
St Helens' in-form centre Jamie Lyon will be happy to be on stand-by for Australia during the Gillette Tri-Nations Series.

The 23-year-old former Parramatta player, who made his name as a teenager on the 2001 Kangaroo tour, was not considered by the Australian selectors when they named their 23-strong squad this week because he now plays his club rugby in England.

The snub was not unexpected but Lyon, a front-runner for the Man of Steel award after a brilliant debut season in engage Super League, is ready to answer an SOS if the Kangaroos run into similar injury problems to those encountered by Chris Anderson in 2003 when former St Helens centre Darren Smith received a shock recall at the age of 34.

"For sure, I will be staying around for a while," said Lyon. "I was not expecting a call at all. They have got a lot of good players to choose from and they are definitely in form. I have got no problems with it at all."

Lyon's more immediate concern is Friday's Super League final eliminator against Bradford Bulls when St Helens look to book a meeting with defending champions Leeds Rhinos in the Old Trafford Grand Final.

Saints sprang a surprise by naming three of their injured stars - Sean Long, Darren Albert and Jason Hooper - in their initial 20-strong squad, although coach Daniel Anderson was non-committal over their chances of actually playing.

Long and Albert were ruled out for the season after sustaining fractured cheekbones against Wigan on September 9 while Hooper was discounted after dislocating a shoulder in last Friday's defeat by Leeds.

"I don't think I have played in a team that has had so many crucial injuries," admitted Lyon, who may be switched to stand-off to offset the likely absence of Hooper.

"But there's not much we can do about it, we have just got to get on with it.

"It does not worry us that we are being written off. Bradford deserve to be favourites because they have definitely been the form team over the last couple of months.

"But we are not losing sight of how good the players are in our team. I think there will be a big emphasis on the forwards.

"We have just got to muscle up and hopefully we can get on top of them. Paul Anderson and Nick Fozzard have put their hands up all year and I think James Graham has had a great year as well. Personally, I think he should be a bolter for the GB team, that's how good he is."

James Graham has been excellent this season and has been equal to any player he has played against. For a 19 year old forward to be mentioned for international duty, he must be outstanding.

Go ginge!

 

JasonE

Bench
Messages
3,107
I said exactly the same thing to Rich about a week ago, i said i thought he is already one of the best forwards in SL.
As for Tri Nations, i'd give him another year to develop.
Great kid with a great attitude.
 

The Clan

Juniors
Messages
693
James Graham Captained the England Academy team that put the cleaners through the Ausie Schoolboys team.

I think it was also Graham that went on a 50 metre "Webb like" barnstormer which left Ausie s scattered all over the place and ended in a try.
 

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