England coach Steve McNamara says the profile of the NRL in the UK has never been higher due to James Graham and Gareth Widdop’s grand final involvement.

Sunday’s game will be the first time in 40 years a decider has featured an Englishman on either side.

Melbourne’s Widdop and Canterbury’s Graham are aiming to become the first Pom since Adrian Morley in 2002 to win a premiership, and McNamara says the league community in the UK is buzzing with excitment.

“It’s really great to see two of our players playing in the biggest game of the world’s best competition,” McNamara told AAP.

“There has been a fair bit in the media about it here, which is good for the profile of our game.

“It’s good for us that players who’ll be in our World Cup squad are getting the experience of playing in front of huge crowds in huge games,” he said,

Last week’s two preliminary finals had four English players involved with Sam and Luke Burgess playing for South Sydney against Canterbury and McNamara said there were plenty of people watching to see how they fared in their homeland.

“The games were shown early in the morning here and I know some fans who recorded the games, then spent the rest of the day avoiding the result so they could watch it when they got home from work,” he said.

“We’ll all be tuned in on Sunday morning and very keen to see how Gareth and James get on.”

Before his arrival in Sydney, Graham featured in every Super League grand final since 2006 with St Helens – losing the past five.

But McNamara says the 27-year-old has blossomed under the coaching of Des Hasler.

“We’ve always known James is a top player, but under Des he’s gone on to a new level,” McNamara said.

“He was never really been used off the bench, and he’s had to get used to that.

“But I was looking at his stats the other day and they are incredible.

“Des has been very smart in the way he uses him. He comes off the bench in the first half and generally stays out there and it saves an interchange.”