Speculation around Canterbury, whether about coach Des Hasler or the player comings and goings , has been so rampant this season it has even got back to James Graham's mother in the north-west of England.
"The funniest thing is when people who are actually close to you have to ask you. My mum said to me, 'I've heard you're coming back to St Helens'," the Bulldogs captain said, recalling a conversation earlier in the year when the talk was that Graham would be squeezed out of Belmore to accommodate Aaron Woods.
![Focused: James Graham is desperate for the Bulldogs to finish the season on a high.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170810183514im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/s/h/v/b/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxsesq.png/1502273073862.jpg)
'I just said, 'Mum, do you think you'd find that out in an online article or do you think I'd tell you? Do you think you would find out from a friend of a friend with a rumour going round or do you think I'd let you know?'
"She said, 'Well, you'd probably let me know, son'. And I said 'Yep'."
![Rumour mill: Bulldogs captain James Graham.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170810183514im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/s/h/u/o/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gxsesq.png/1502273073862.jpg)
The 31-year-old Englishman takes a phlegmatic approach to league's rumour mill, accepting it as "all part of the rugby league rollercoaster".
The issue for Canterbury, who take on South Sydney at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night, is their precarious salary cap position for 2018 is not mere gossip. There has been no suggestion lately that Graham will be going, but in all likelihood players will have to be shed if the cap falls at or around the projected $9.2 million.
Tim Mannah, who led Parramatta to a 20-4 win over the Bulldogs last Thursday, reckons the issue is on the players' minds. "You can almost see that in the way they are playing," said Mannah, who knows a thing or two about the salary cap and the unknown, although in the Eels' case the uncertainty of 2016 was in waiting for the punishment they would cop for the systematic rorting of former Parramatta club executives.
The Bulldogs, by contrast, have simply overshot an indicative player payment ceiling for next season. When the confirmed figure is determined, the club must ensure it is under it by round one next March.
You can toss a lot of theories around about what has gone so wrong at Canterbury this season, but Graham doesn't believe it's got anything to do with the cap position for next year.
"I honestly don't think so. It's part of it, isn't it? The speculation sort of comes with the territory," he said.
"You just have to get on with it. No one has really voiced it to me. Whether or not it's a private matter with some people, I don't know.
"It's just part of the job. Obviously this year is a little bit different in terms of the [collective bargaining agreement] being organised and the club not being sure where they're at. But that is something that is completely out of the players' control at the minute. There is not much you can do about that."
Nor is there much they can do about easing the scrutiny on Hasler, unless the Bulldogs can get out of their worst funk in years. Canterbury head into the clash against Souths having lost five of their last six matches, the only win coming thanks to a miraculous comeback against last-placed Newcastle. A game that would have in recent seasons been cast as a blockbuster, with both sides getting wound up for the approaching semi-finals, is instead a meeting of also-rans who will be dressing up for in Super Mario costumes and the like on September 4.
It will be weeks after Mad Monday – when Canterbury reassemble with high-profile recruits Woods and Kieran Foran for the next pre-season – before the Bulldogs can leave in the rear-view mirror a season of under-achievement and begin charting a course forward. The question is whether Hasler will still be the coach by then. The last four rounds of the season will go a long way towards providing the answer.
"I certainly don't think we need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak," said Graham, who is determined for Canterbury to finish the season strongly. "Obviously there is going to be some change in personnel and I guess it's for Des and the rest of the staff to decide if we're going to change how we play.
"Sometimes [with] sport, everything that you think is going to happen doesn't. It's a difficult one for us to comprehend, because at the start of the season spirits were high and belief was really high. We thought we could really do something in this competition."
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