James Graham showed the sort of passion his St George Illawarra teammates could have done with most of this season as audio captured him labelling his good mate Aaron Woods a ''shitbag'' in an incident he labelled on Tuesday as ''unsavoury''.
An angry Graham was seen erupting at Woods after he flopped on to the back of Dragons playmaker Gareth Widdop in the 68th minute of Cronulla's 18-12 triumph.
James Graham said he was sticking up for his teammate.Credit:NRL Photos
Graham was seething because of Widdop's history with shoulder problems and was dragged away by former Dragons teammate Josh Dugan.
The Herald obtained the audio from the match, which featured the fiery Englishman launching into a potty-mouthed tirade towards the same player he sat opposite on a panel show for the entire 2017 season.
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"That's shithouse, and while he's down, and his shoulder is f—ed, you shitbag,'' Graham said.
The Dragons forward then tells the referees: "He's f—ing injured, and you want to talk safety and all that shit.''
I viewed the incident as unsavoury, and when you see something happen to your mate, that's how I sometimes react.
James Graham
Graham then gets sent away before he turns to stand-in skipper Paul Vaughan and tells him to ''fire up'' at the officials.
When asked about the blow-up on Tuesday, Graham said: "It's part of our game sometimes and emotions run high. It was a derby game. It's spirited enough.
"I viewed the incident as unsavoury, and when you see something happen to your mate, that's how I sometimes react.
"I don't think much needs to be made of it, personally.''
Woods and Graham had no issues afterwards and have remained tight friends for several years, with Woods often referring to him to as a ''legend''.
The NRL match review committee launched a crackdown on late hits to players but were more than satisfied Woods had done nothing wrong on this occasion. The matter was reviewed but mainly toRead More – Source
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