St Helens legend James Graham suggests Lewis Dodd swap deal with “writing on the wall” at South Sydney Rabbitohs

James Graham believes Lewis Dodd’s time at South Sydney Rabbitohs is done and urged the former St Helens’ man’s management to start looking at other options.

Dodd left St Helens at the end of the 2024 season, a campaign where he and Saints both struggled, with the young Englishman making the switch to the NRL. His move to South Sydney Rabbitohs was announced far earlier in the year but it’s not worked out so far since his arrival.

The Bunnies looked set to have Dodd as a starter alongside Cody Walker but the off-season signings of Jamie Humphreys and Jayden Sullivan has left the ex-St Helens man way down the pecking order, seemingly even behind centre Jack Wighton.

After two 20-minute cameos, Dodd was finally handed his first start but Souths were blown out by a previously misfiring Newcastle. After just two hours playing time for the Rabbitohs, James Graham reckons Dodd’s time with the club could be done.

Speaking on his podcast The Bye Round, Graham reasoned: “I think the writing is on the wall for Lewis Dodd at Souths. They had (Cody) Walker and (Jamie) Humphreys not available, who seem to be the starting choice.

“Latrell (Mitchell) went there then you had (Jack) Wighton) go there and you had (Jayden) Sullivan go there so he is basically fifth or sixth choice half-back.

“For me, I think his management really need to look at who needs a seven. I don’t want to see him leave the NRL.”

Landing spot named for ex-St Helens man Lewis Dodd

Graham went on to suggest a possible destination for Dodd as well, even proposing a possible swap deal given that Dodd’s huge salary could be a stopping point in any prospective deal.

“For me, all roads lead to Wollongong. The Dragons need half-backs,” Graham declared.

“Obviously, they made a change with (Lachlan) Ilias and brought the young lad (Lyhkan King-Togia) in but that was because there is basically nobody else. All of the talk about dropping Ilias was about ‘who else is there’.”

Ilias was axed from Souths last year with Dodd coming in as the man to replace him but they could end up playing together with Graham suggesting Souths make a play for one of St George’s props in an ambitious swap deal.

Graham explained: “I think the Dragons, you could do a bit of business there because Souths don’t need a fifth choice half-back on $600,000-700,000 a year but they need some middles.

“They need some experience but the Dragons are going with youth in the middle so players like Blake Lawrie and Raymond Faitala-Mariner are not even making the 17. If Souths go ‘we’ll take one of these older forwards on a swap deal’.”

Journalist Brent Read did note a ‘spanner in the works’ in that St George have signed Daniel Atkinson for 2026 whilst Wade Graham agreed that the “writing is on the wall” for Dodd at South Sydney.

However, Read suggested another option, stating: “I’m just thinking, could he play six because Kristian Woolf knows him well and was interested in him when Souths signed him”, with Graham agreeing that the Dolphins could well be interested in Dodd who are coached by his former St Helens coach.