Rugby League Blog: English winners at last

Australia, predictably, dominated the inaugural Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) player of the year ceremony here yesterday, but England collected two awards. James Graham, the engage Super League Man of Steel, was named as prop in the team of the year, while Gareth Ellis, who is joining Wests Tigers in the NRL next season from Leeds Rhinos, shared the award for second-row forward with the Kangaroos' Anthony Laffranchi.

Graham was among those who lost out to Billy Slater, the prolific Melbourne Storm and Australia full back, who has scored two hat-tricks of tries in the World Cup so far and will be the danger man for New Zealand in Saturday's final, as the first winner of the RLIF player of the year.

The award was of little consolation to Graham after England's semi-final loss to the Kiwis and who was honest enough in his assessment to say that he felt that Petero Civoniceva and Steve Price, the Australia props, were better players. “I don't think I'm quite up to their level yet. I'm shocked to win the award,” he said. “We didn't play to the best of our abilities in the tournament and we're all guilty of that. We showed in patches we can play. If we can play for 80 minutes, we're a tough team to beat, but not for ten and 15 minutes. It just didn't happen for us over here. We've got to put it to bed and not dwell on it, but learn from it as players.”

Graham also praised the appointment yesterday of Daniel Anderson, who led St Helens to nine trophies in three years, as the new Parramatta Eels coach in the NRL.

Anderson, the 41-year-old former New Zealand national coach, who cut his coaching teeth on the backroom staff of the Eels in the 1990s, has succeeded Michael Hagan on a three-year contract. Anderson returned to Sydney this month after cutting short his stay in England because of family reasons.

“I have a long history with Parramatta and I consider it a real privilege to be given the opportunity to coach the team,” Anderson said. “I started my coaching career here back in 1991 and it's long been a goal of mine to return. I'm a Parramatta boy, I grew up here and, apart from the last eight years, I've spent my life here. Needless to say, I'm incredibly enthusiastic about the opportunity that I have been given and I look forward to helping the team and the club rise up the ladder.”

Graham said: “He certainly helped my career at St Helens, so I owe a lot to him. We were all wondering when someone was going to take him on and it's no surprise because he's a fantastic coach. I'm sure he'll do really well.”

Team of the year: Full-back: Billy Slater (Melbourne, Queensland and Australia); Winger: Manu Vatuvei (NZ Warriors and New Zealand); Centre: Israel Folau (Melbourne, Queensland and Australia) Stand-off: Greg Inglis (Melbourne, Queensland and Australia); Scrum half: Scott Prince (Gold Coast, Queensland and Australia); Prop: James Graham (St Helens and England); Hooker: Cameron Smith (Melbourne, Queensland and Australia); Second row (joint winners): Gareth Ellis (Leeds and England); Anthony Laffranchi (Gold Coast, NSW and Australia); Loose forward: Paul Gallen (Cronulla, NSW and Australia).