England and St Helens legend James Graham believes that Matty Lees and Morgan Knowles coming up against each other in the NRL has similar traits to the battle between himself and Sam Burgess.
Lees will depart St Helens at the end of the 2027 season, where he will join the soon-to-be NRL side PNG Chiefs. He became only their fourth ever signing, with the side also recruiting Jarome Luai, Alex Johnston and Connor Watson to their squad ahead of 2028.
By joining the Oceanic competition, it means that he will come up against former teammate for club and country, Morgan Knowles, who joined The Dolphins ahead of the 2026 season.
The pair won countless trophies for St Helens together, and are two of England’s biggest and best forwards of the modern era.
That is why, when the two do come up against each other, Graham expects it to be immense viewing.
Speaking on Lees’ signing on his podcast, The Bye Round, the ex-St Helens and Canterbury Bulldogs revealed that he actually had some involvement in getting the 28-year-old to the Chiefs. He said: “I’m delighted for Matty to get this deal sorted with PNG.
“Chammy [Michael Chammas, PNG Chiefs General Manager] actually called me a while ago and asked me about him, and basically asked me more about the person than the player, because he can see the player that he is and what he’ll bring to that team, and probably more importantly, his coach will as well.
“He [Willie Peters] is living and breathing in the Super League, and so he’ll be able to know his strengths, his weaknesses and what he can bring to a football side.
“But then off the field, he probably wouldn’t have that closeness to him, although he could make a few phone calls, but he [Chammas] basically asked me about the type of person that he is and what he’s like in and around training.
“I was like, ‘mate, he’s as tough as they come, and I loved playing with him.’ I went back for six months, probably didn’t know him super tight, but he was always great in and around the group.”
Explaining what type of NRL player Lees will be, Graham said: “He’s not the biggest person in the world, but he’s very mobile.
“Probably a comparison would be like Victor Radley, like all action, goes after it, he’ll fight above his weight.”
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St Helens star Matty Lees and Morgan Knowles tipped to be the next Sam Burgess and James Graham
Commenting on what a future rivalry between the two good mates could look like, Graham said: “One of the first things I thought when he signed is ‘I can’t wait to see PNG play against the Dolphins.’
“Him and Morgan Knowles are super tight, like very tight. One of the things about Morgan Knowles leaving [St Helens] would have been leaving Matty behind.
“They came through together, and obviously ‘Morgs’ has got his thing happening over here.
“Honestly, build this game up. This could be… Burgess-Graham round two, but they’re obviously former teammates.
“Sam and I were teammates for England, but these are club teammates. There’ll be hours and hours of footage of them combining together in a game, celebrating Grand Finals together.
“I am actually tingling ready to see these two, because they will go after each other. These two are going to go after each other, and they’re going to keep coming. It’s going to be awesome to watch.”
