Under-fire James Graham vows to fight on for Dragons

James Graham is coming off, by his own reckoning, a below-par performance with questions raised about his future.

James Graham has struggled in a poor Dragons side this season. Picture: Getty Images

The fresh face of halfback Adam Clune, broken nose and all, has provided a welcome distraction for exasperated St George Illawarra supporters this week.

But what of the oldest player in the team? James Graham is coming off, by his own reckoning, a below-par performance. He played only 32 minutes and made only 49 metres in last weekend’s embarrassing loss at the hands of the Warriors.

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Former NSW and Australian front-rower Steve Roach on the Matthew Johns Podcast this week implied Graham’s time is up, suggesting his legs were gone.

No doubt, others were thinking the same. Graham is off contract at the end of the season and the Dragons have already begun planning their recruitment around finding another middle forward.

The 34-year-old has been a warrior, playing more than 400 first grade games across Super League and the NRL.

He may be closing on retirement, but he won’t be quitting on his team.

“I don’t know if he’s looking for a response … it comes with the territory, I’m not shying away from it,” Graham said when asked about Roach’s comments.

“I’m not naive enough to know it’s not all going to be positive. I’m just going to try my best for the team and looking to improve on my performance this week.

“Collectively, I want to get the win for this team. That’s where the focus is, not worrying about what people in the media say about me as an individual and if it’s the end of the road quote.

“All I can say is I’m not looking for the door, I’m all-in for this week and that’s all I can be. I’m not really thinking about my future.”

These are testing time for the Dragons. Coach Paul McGregor is under the microscope as he approaches a crucial game against Canterbury at Bankwest Stadium on Monday.

Lose that one and the vultures will be circling. McGregor has shaken things up and so have the players.

“It’s not like we pussy-foot around the questions at training, we definitely deal with situations we need to deal with,” forward Tariq Sims said.

“We were pissed at the start of the week when we had to deal with the vision that we had to look at where we need to be better and where we were poor.

“From a players’ point of view that we let not only our coach down but our fans down. (But) there’s no fighting, just honest conversations to be had.’’

Meanwhile, Peter V’landys has squashed suggestions Shane Flanagan could have his head-coaching ban reduced, effectively ruling him out as a possible early replacement for the besieged McGregor.