Lions ace on prowl for Knights

The Knights have also brought in second row forward John Smith from Featherstone Lions but assistant coach Graeme Hallas has been released due to his business commitments.

Graham, 31, has played at Wembley for Bradford Bulls and appeared for Scotland in the 2000 World Cup.

He was also part of Dewsbury's National Grand Final-winning squad and Knights coach Richard Agar is delighted with his latest acquisition.

Agar, who played alongside Graham for two years at Featherstone and five seasons with Dewsbury, said: "He's an extremely good professional and leader, as well as being a very durable player. He's dependable in both attack and defence and will be a great acquisition for the club. He is a big signing."

Fellow new man Smith is the son of former Great Britain international and Featherstone Rovers legend Peter Smith.

Agar has moved quickly to sign the promising 21-year-old amateur with a clutch of other clubs also showing an interest.

"He played for me for the last two years at Featherstone Lions and his progress has been quite remarkable," the Knights coach said. "He had trials with Featherstone Rovers' under 21s last season and got a bagful of tries.

"I thought he should have been signed on but he was not and now I have nipped in because I feared somebody else would if I didn't. He can break from the second row and scores lots of tries.

"He's got one or two rough edges still but I'm sure that playing with better players in a more professional environment will improve him."

Chief executive Steve Ferres is also pleased with Knights' latest acquisitions and added that there would be more signings on the horizon.

He said: "We do anticipate fetching more players on board and hopefully, within the next fortnight, there will be more signings."

Hallas' departure will mean new Knights coach Richard Agar will be looking to recruit a replacement assistant and he is hopeful of resolving that by the weekend.

Updated: 11:19 Wednesday, October 08, 2003