James Graham insists he will look to follow the example of Jamie Peacock when he captains England against New Zealand.
New skipper inspired by Peacock
New England captain James Graham insists he will look to follow the example of Jamie Peacock in Saturday's opening Four Nations match against New Zealand.
Graham will lead England out for the first time after being selected as replacement for the injured Adrian Morley, who himself was the replacement skipper for the sidelined Peacock.
And the St Helens prop wants to be as inspirational a leader as Peacock has been.
"I got a text off JP wishing me all the best and that means a lot coming from a guy like him," said the 25-year-old.
"He led by example on and off the field. He's certainly a role model and someone I will try to emulate."
England go into the game on the back of a surprise draw against the New Zealand Maori in their final warm-up game.
Platform
However coach Steve McNamara insists there were plenty of good points to come out of that game.
"I don't think there was much wrong last week," he said. "It was a really positive experience for us.
"We did a lot of good things in the first half and the second half showed us where we need to improve. It gave us a great platform on which to practise this week.
"The Kiwis are a team which has been together for a reasonably long period of time now. Their half-backs understand each other well and they're a well-prepared team but so are we."
