England and Super League legend James Graham has passionately expressed his frustration at why a deal between the NRL and Super League is yet to be confirmed: before sensationally admitting he thinks rugby league in the UK is ‘on the verge of needing an investigation for corruption’.

Graham has been one of the strongest advocates for the NRL to take direct control of the running of Super League – something which now does not look set to happen until 2028 at the earliest.

There will be input from Down Under on certain things next year, including a potential TV deal with DAZN, but the two parties appear to have run out of time in terms of putting together an agreement for 2027.

And Graham admitted in his Bye Round podcast that he couldn’t be more frustrated.

James Graham on Super League-NRL deal

The Super League icon admitted: “I’m really frustrated on this, that this hasn’t gone through.”

However, Graham did not stop there – seemingly taking aim at some of the sport’s administrators and then suggesting the game would not be far off needing a deep-rooted investigation into its ‘governance’ in recent times.

“I can’t really see a reason,” he continued.

“Again, speaking to some people that.. I’m not going to name any names, but if you look at the governance of some of the people and you look at some publicly free information on who was in charge, where they left to, the sums that they were paid, now that they’re back in these positions, it’s on the verge of needing an investigation for corruption. That’s where the game is at over there.

“It’s on the verge of investigation for.. just the optics of it. You start to piece that puzzle together and look at some of the movement, you go, what is going on here?”

Graham was very clear not to specifically name any individuals. But he did then admit he felt there were people within British rugby league – dubbing them the ‘gatekeepers’ – who are preventing an NRL deal.

He said: “Now, they’re the gatekeepers, they’re the ones stopping the NRL coming in. Like, why? What have you got to gain from this? That is the question that I ask. What are the gatekeepers to the Super League protecting? Because it’s got to be out of fear that they’re going to lose something. What are they so desperate to hold onto?”

Graham says British rugby league not ‘proactive’

Graham would then use the case of London Broncos, who have seemingly not been told what it will take for them to come into Super League until very recently, about the lack of a plan for the sport in Britain. He would then insist the sport has failed in being proactive in trying to strengthen the game.

He said: “I’ve been thinking about this since the end of my time, issuing the Super League and then coming over here. I reckon the people at the Super League would have been almost daydreaming and wishful thinking around, we need someone to come in and help us, but where does this person exist? We need help, we need investment, but where do these people come from?

“They’re maybe not being too active, they’re waiting for this hope, this group or this organisation to come in and rescue them. Like hopefully wishful thinking, because they’re certainly not being proactive. I can tell you that.

“I know they’re not being proactive in that. They bought IMG and why, I don’t know what that was about, but all of a sudden, you’ve now got this interest from the NRL. This is the hope to rescue and this complaint around, we’ve not seen a plan.

“Don’t be all of a sudden holding standards to plans, because you don’t have one. I spoke with Grant Wechsel and Darren Lockyer around, how can you get into Super League? We’ve not been told. So if you don’t have a plan, if you don’t have structure and corporate governance, this next group that’s going to come in and be part of it, you’re asking them for a plan?

“How about you show us yours? Let’s do a comparison. Let’s compare these both plans that apparently don’t exist. But what we can definitely compare is results. If you want to compare, forget the plans, compare the results over the past two decades of both of these competitions.”