Graham has likely played his last NRL match and is set to link up with St Helens for rest of Super League season
Monday 22 June 2020 17:59, UK
James Graham has confirmed he will quit NRL side St George Illawarra Dragons and rejoin Super League club St Helens where he will finish his rugby league career.
The prop, 34, who captained Great Britain in 2019, joined Dragons prior to the start of the 2018 NRL campaign, and last featured for them in a 20-8 victory over Gold Coast Titans on June 20.
Graham played 224 times for St Helens before moving to Canterbury Bulldogs in 2012, and is set to join up with the Super League side for the remainder of their Super League campaign, where the forward says he will finish his career "where it all started."
Graham's decision to move back to his former club comes after Great Britain and England international prop Luke Thompson left St Helens for NRL side Bulldogs earlier in June.
He told Fox Sports NRL 360: "There were a few scenarios going around and some cause-and-effect situations back home and I had to stew over that and think things through about what I wanted to do.
"I had to work out what I wanted to do and what effect it would have back in England and also the effect on the Dragons as well.
"It wasn't an easy decision, but this gives me the opportunity to go home and finish my career where it all started - play out the six months and then return to that new chapter back in Sydney.
"I have been a [St Helens] fan ever since I knew what rugby league was. I started there as an 11-year-old and my coach there at the academy (Mike Rush) is now the CEO and he is the guy who I have been doing the dealings with to sign.
"So it's obviously a club that look after their own in that journey and there is a lot of fond memories - and that was something else that came into factoring that decision in as I'm risking a lot by going back there and everything that we achieved as a group, and my memories of the place, that all came into it as well."
Meanwhile, the Super League season is edging closer towards restarting, with several rule changes in place for at least the remainder of the 2020 campaign.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, no Super League games have been played since March 15.
