Championship Chats is back for 2025! Hear from Halifax's Brad Graham as he hails his side's brilliant start in the Betfred Championship...
Championship Chats returns for 2025 – and we caught up with Halifax Panthers’ Brad Graham, as his side look to continue their unbeaten run on Sunday.
Halifax are high-flying in the new campaign, sitting top of the Betfred Championship table and finding themselves four wins from their first four matches.
The Panthers have defeated Sheffield, Barrow and York in the opening rounds, before producing a dominant 38-12 display against Featherstone Rovers last weekend.
This might have come as a surprise as many, but Kyle Eastmond’s men are playing with a winning mentality, and Graham is thrilled with ‘Fax’s start to the season:
“I don't think anybody expected how well of a start we [Halifax] were going to have but the expectation is that we try and win every game we can – we don’t go out to lose,” said Graham, who has already scored two tries in Halifax colours.
“There's been new coaching staff who have taken over including our head coach Kyle [Eastmond]. The boys have taken to him really well, and myself personally, I’ve taken to him really well.”
Graham was one of Halifax’s seven new recruits in the off-season, having joined from local rivals Dewsbury Rams.
Now proudly representing the Blue, Brad hasn’t looked back and admitted his side will be aiming big and bright in 2025:
“I’ve come into a new group at Halifax having left Dewsbury after three good years there. It’s been great so far; Halifax have a great fan base and support network here.
“I've always seen this club as a top six Championship side, whether they've made it or not, and that’s what we're aiming for this year.
“We want to finish as high as we can and get Halifax back to where they belong in that top half of the table.”
When Graham initially put pen to paper and signed for his new club, former 'Fax head coach Liam Finn was set to be at the helm.
But news soon broke that Finn would depart to take up a Super League coaching opportunity at Huddersfield Giants, and Eastmond, a former dual code international, would instead take charge at The Shay.
It's been nothing but positive changes for Graham, however, who’s arguably playing his best rugby to date under his new head coach:
“I signed under the previous coach Liam Finn and I'd worked with Finny at Dewsbury,” explained Graham.
“He then made the choice to move on to Huddersfield for his career and likewise I made the choice to sign at Halifax.
“For my development, working under Kyle is going great – he’s given me that spark where I’m enjoying my rugby and playing rugby with a smile back on my face.
“The expectations that he has are great and he just wants his team to work really hard and do the basics right. And then obviously on the back of that, we’ll play some nice rugby.”
With the ability to play at centre, wing or in the back row, a versatile Graham is always happy to go where needed:
“Coming through the Academy at Castleford, I started as a back row and then I got moulded into a centre.
“I've played a lot at centre coming through the Juniors and when I first started out in the First Team. Then, as I got a little bit older, I went into the back row.
“For now, I'm back in the centres, and I don't mind playing any position really. I'll put my hand up and go wherever Kyle needs me to play.
“I'm just really enjoying playing with this team and this great group of lads.”
Although fuelled with ambition, the key for Halifax is keeping grounded and Graham insists that his side are focusing predominantly on themselves - believing hard and working even harder:
“Nothing changes for us no matter who we play. Look at how we pushed Catalans [Dragons] in the Challenge Cup - we went after them in the way we’d go after any Championship side.
“And that's the beauty of what Kyle's brought in. As much as we’d like to focus on the opposition and respect them which we do, we’re focused on Halifax and how Halifax perform.
“We don't really change how we train or how we play to suit a team - we just stick to what we do best.
“What we're doing seems to be working great so far. There’s a chance for us to go five from five this week and we’re buying into everything that Kyle expects and what he wants and how he wants his side to play."
And being able to compete week in and week out is something that's made the move to Halifax an exciting one for Graham:
“I made the move with one of the main reasons being that I wanted to be playing in the top half of the Championship table.
“For me personally it's about cementing a permanent place within the side, playing well and making sure that I'm doing all the little things that Kyle wants.
“And obviously, like anybody would, I'd like to win the league.”
Graham has an interesting story to tell. He didn't start playing rugby league until high school, but this hasn't stopped him from transforming into an England youth international and eventually working his way up to Super League level – something many young people can only dream of.
“I didn’t start playing rugby league until high school. It was a choice that my mum and dad made as they didn’t want me playing at too young of an age because of its dangers – but obviously that’s part and parcel of rugby league,” said Graham.
“We held off and I started out with football and played football at quite a high level.
“I was picked up by the Leeds United Academy and went and trained with Huddersfield Town. But when I got to high school, I joined the school's rugby team.
“I played at Kettlethorpe and then some of my mates at Stanley Rangers said, ‘why don’t you come down and give it a go?’ – so it all took off from there really.
“I signed at Castleford Tigers and came through the system there. I was fortunate and lucky enough to make my debut for them in Super League where I made three appearances.
“I eventually decided to make a career move and go down to Championship and go into the building trade with my qualifications that I had.
“I signed at Dewsbury and had three years there, which was a bit of an up and down season, before the opportunity arose to come here. And here we are!”
It’s a remarkable rugby league journey and Graham wouldn’t have his life any other way:
“It can be hard, but you find a way to balance it. When you’re a full-time player, you’re training early in the morning and you're done for early afternoon whereas with part time rugby, you start work and then train in the evening.
“You can end up having really long days, but I mean, we do it because we enjoy what we do.
“If you don’t love what you do, my question is why are you doing it? We all play rugby league because we love the game and it doesn't matter whether we play it at Super League, Championship, League One or at amateur level - to play the game you've got to have the love for it.”
Still 23-years-young, Graham has a long future in the game ahead, and has a few pointers on what he’d like to achieve during that time:
“I’d like to win the Championship and if there was any opportunity to feature at Wembley in the 1895 Cup or Challenge Cup Finals in the future, then that would be nice.
“Personally, I’d just like to go on and make as many career appearances as I can and hopefully retire without having a body that's battered from the game!”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s match against rivals Batley Bulldogs, Graham is relishing another challenge on home soil, as Fax look to make it five wins on the spin:
“It’s always a tough game against Batley; they’re always a gritty team that hang in there no matter what.
“We’ve got to focus on what we’ve been doing for the last few weeks – performing well, doing everything right that we’ve set out to achieve and keeping this good run going.
“We're trying to build something great back at The Shay, so my message to the fans is to come down and support us as best you can and get behind the boys!”
Tickets are still available for Halifax and Batley’s huge Round 5 clash. Fans can purchase tickets online here.
The full fixture list for the Betfred Championship can be found here.
A full Betfred Championship Round 5 Preview can be found here.
Photo Credit: Halifax Panthers
