FORMER Super League and NRL legends James Graham and Willie Mason met up on James Graham’s The Bye Round Podcast recently, with both advocating a return of the Great Britain Ashes tour of Australia.
Back in the early 2000s, the likes of Mason went up against Adrian Morley, Jamie Peacock and Stuart Fielden in some of the most tasty international fixtures ever seen in rugby league.
Ferocious hits, incredible skill and pure passion were on show throughout and this was expected again when the Lions went on a tour in 2019.
However, under former head coach Wayne Bennett, the tour was an abject failure – and nothing like the Tri-Nations tournament of 2006.
Despite that, both Graham and Mason have called for the Great Britain Lions tour against Australia to be reignited, with the latter reminiscing on the time he came to the UK and played at Wigan in 2003 – the game in which Adrian Morley was sent off after just 12 seconds ahead of a three-match Ashes series.
“We’re like ‘holy f***,’ we’re playing at Wigan and it’s jam-packed and the fans were amazing,” Mason said on James Graham’s The Bye Round Podcast.
“Just the best ever, they’re crazy. Morley got sent off with the quickest send-off. I was on the bench and I was only 22 and then they also had Andy Farrell, all the big OGs and they’re all at their pinnacle as well,” Mason said.
“They were the most brutal games I’ve ever played in. They need to bring them back because they are brilliant. They need that rivalry with Australia again. That Great Britain vs Australia, they were test matches.”
Graham himself echoed those sentiments: “I’d love to see those Ashes tests come back. There was supposed to be an Ashes series before the pandemic, I think it was 2020.
“We need to stoke that rivalry up again.”
In recent years, there have been calls to increase the amount of international fixtures especially following the success of the recent Rugby League World Cup.
