James Graham and Wayne Bennett clash over orange juice

James Graham is perhaps one of rugby league’s greatest characters and one person who can certainly vouch for that is former boss Wayne Bennett.

The flame-haired enforcer played under Bennett with the England national side and recalled – on Triple M – of a prank that Graham pulled on the veteran coach.

“Wayne is one of the best coaches I’ve ever known, but there is a funny side to him,” Graham said.

“He was great to have in camp and was always about the lads having fun and the camaraderie in the group.

“So, we had a recovery day, massages and stretching. we were in the team room, they start setting up for dinner time, bringing out cutlery and plates.

“And out comes the condiments, me and the lads have gone ‘hey, do you want to get that tabasco and we will rim all these glasses with it’.

“There’s a collection of glasses and we’ve gently rimmed the tabasco sauce in the glasses and put them all neatly back.

“You put too much on and people are going to see it – those coming in have got to think it’s a normal glass!

“We kind of forgot that we did it, we were waiting for someone to sit down and join us and grab the glass, waiting to get one of our teammates.

“I went for a massage and then I hear Dan Sarginson say ‘Jammer, Jammer’ (Graham’s nickname) and I went ‘what’ and he nods his head and points at the table that Wayne Bennett is making a beeline for.

“He’s in his late 60s so we were thinking ‘should we tell him’ he’s our coach and I was worried for the old man.

“He’s got this jug of orange juice and got this glass, meanwhile, we are shaking on this massage table uncontrollably.

“He’s taken a sip of this orange juice and gone ‘ew’, then pulled another glass.

“We were tearing up, we had to explain to the masseurs why we were laughing, but he’s poured another glass and gone again ‘this orange juice is spicy’.