ONE of the best and most astute buys in the NRL this year was made by a coach who lost his job before the player could help save it.
Former Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore and his assistant Jim Dymock identified enforcer James Graham midway through last season.
The 26-year-old prop had 200-plus games for St Helens and had been a mainstay of the Great Britain Test pack since 2006.
Still, when premier coach Des Hasler took over at Belmore, he was never expecting to see the best of Graham this year.
Even many of the great English forwards from over the years needed a 12-month settling in period to adjust to the Australian game. Not this guy, who showed all his toughness and roughness to more than match countryman Sam Burgess in a colossal battle at ANZ Stadium last Saturday night.
Graham is described by his Bulldogs teammates as a man of few words but the ultimate professional. He's also statistically rated in the top six front-rowers in the competition from all the key indicators.
Not just for the tremendous workrate but for his willingness to shift the football. (He averages seven passes a game - more than any other prop).
Graham is one of three from the Bulldogs who are rated among the top 10 buys in the NRL for 2012 at the halfway mark of the season.
Hasler's signing from the Sea Eagles caused an almighty off-season storm but he's proving to be worth the big bucks CEO Todd Greenberg had to fork out.
Just about every Canterbury player has improved considerably under Hasler's guidance and more regimented preparation.
Players like Kris Keating, Josh Morris and Frank Pritchard are now playing the best and most consistent footy of their careers.
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He might have only played two matches for the Dogs but former Eels and Warriors winger Krisnan Inu also gets a start in the top 10.
At the bargain price of less than $50,000 for this season, he has already justified the dollars.
South Sydney coach Michael Maguire is another who deserves his position among the best new signings.
Remarkably, he only got a start because Wayne Bennett rejected the club's offer to sign with the Knights instead.
Maguire has the Rabbitohs playing the disciplined and more structured style of football that has been missing at Redfern for years.
He had the courage to gamble on a rookie halfback in Adam Reynolds as a replacement for Chris Sandow and the nous to switch champion centre Greg Inglis to fullback.
The pair have been two of the biggest stories of the season. Other great new buys include Nate Myles at the Titans, Andrew Everingham at Souths, Will Chambers and Jason Ryles at Melbourne Storm.
A lot of the cheaper buys have turned out to be absolute bargains.
At the Sharks, Jeff Robson and Ben Ross are on less that $100,000.
So too is big Willie Mason at the Knights, who has defied critics, myself included, to be just about the club's best forward.
Blues five-eighth Todd Carney has almost singlehandedly lifted the Sharks into a premiership force and is an obvious inclusion on the list.
But not all the new signings at the 16 clubs have worked out as planned.
It's been a disaster for the Newcastle Knights with fullback Darius Boyd and prop Kade Snowden chewing up $800,000 of the salary cap.
Boyd showed improvement against the Broncos last Sunday but has massive ground to make up.
Snowden had one strong game against his form club the Sharks in round two but has since looked nothing like the player who played for his state and country last year.
Throw in old Timana Tahu, Daine Laurie and Adam Cuthbertson and it becomes a lot easier to understand why the club is failing.
I have even included super coach Bernnett in the bad buy category. Harsh? Possibly, but not when you consider Rick Stone took the Knights to the finals on a quarter of Bennett's salary last year without Boyd and Snowden.
Parramatta are just as bad as the Knights for off-season recruitment.
Chris Sandow is finally showing some encouraging signs but overall has been a disaster at half-back, spending time in NSW Cup.
He's obviously missing the more freedom he had under John Lang's coaching at Souths.
Sandow's five-eighth partner Ben Roberts and centre Willie Tonga, who has struggled with injuries, have also had years they'd rather forget.
Probably not as much though as Cowboys halfback Robert Lui, banned by the NRL for 12 months over domestic violence.
