Graham wants Bulldog spirit to show

Canterbury Bulldogs prop James Graham wants his players to show their character, and not let Origin absences affect them.

Both halfbacks from the club, Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds, were key men in New South Wales‘ winning the first two State of Origin games this year.

But their absence has highlighted how hard Origin can make things for clubs whose players are picked for their states. Graham insists, however, that the money which Origin generates means sacrifices need to be made.

“It is not ideal and people have mooted alternatives but it is hard when you sit down and talk with the top brass at the NRL when they will tell you that the TV deal is in place until 2017 and Fox and Channel Nine want a product and they are paying money for it,” Graham said.

“The increase in the grants and the increase in the salary caps, if you want them sometimes you have to give a little bit.

“Everyone would like stand alone Origin but until the money side of things gets renegotiated I don’t think you are going to get it.

“It is no surprise to any team when it happens, so if you have players who regularly play Origin, you know the dance and you just have to deal with it and get on with it.”

The Bulldogs have lost four straight games, and Graham wants the team to show some grit and bounce back.

What has made the team’s problems worse is a huge injury list, which includes stars like Frank Pritchard, Josh Morris, Sam Perrett, Chase Stanley, Aiden Tolman, David Klemmer and Moses Mbye.

“We are disappointed but it’s a long season,” the England prop added.

“Just like when we were coming first we weren’t talking about how good we were or celebrating. We are no different now losing three games. It’s not the end of the world. There’s a lot of rugby to be played and it’s still a long season.

“We try not to look for excuses. In all the three losses we looked at it, we review it and we gave ourselves opportunities to do better than we did. We came up against some good teams.”