Sonny Bill Anyone

[adrenalinxx]

Sonny Bill Williams has not ruled out a move to the UK in 2008 when his contract runs out, he has not had the best sfew years in the NRL due to injury. He can play either Centre or Second Row but has been playing Centre recently for Canterbury Bulldogs.

I'm sure most people would have heard of Sonny Bill Williams.

League sensation Sonny Bill Williams has not ruled out moving to England as early as 2008, as soon as his $400,000-a-year deal with the Bulldogs expires.

The 21-year-old added he was looking forward to leading New Zealand over the coming years, following the international retirements of Kiwi greats Ruben Wiki, Stacey Jones and Nigel Vagana last week.

English Super League Clubs have shown a keen and sustained interest in the star backrower since he burst onto the scene in 2004, including a $900,000-a-season offer from St Helens, which he rejected.

"England hasn't been ruled out," he said on Wednesday.

"Nothing has been ruled out at this stage, you know. The fact that I'm only 21 is going to play a big part.

"Hopefully I can stay with the Bulldogs, but my manager hasn't started talking yet with the club, so we'll see how we go."

Though relatively green, Williams' short career has been ravaged by injury and his longevity in the sport has already come under question.

"It's not something I think about a lot - how long I will be able to play for - but maybe I should," he said, when asked should he make as much money as he can while he can.

Since making his first grade debut in March 2004 he has only played 41 games out of a possible 78, missing 37, or almost half, through injury.

He also missed New Zealand's recent Tri-Nations campaign.

"The boys went so well and not being a part of it was pretty shattering," the 191cm, 102kg Kiwi said.

"In saying that, I'm only 21 and hopefully there's a lot more Tests for me to be in."

Over the past few years Wiki, Jones and Vagana - who played 139 Test between them - helped NZ narrow the international gap between them and Australia.

Last year NZ won the Tri-Nations final, and this year it came within inches of retaining it, losing the final in golden point extra time on Saturday night.

"With them boys leaving, us young fellas are gonna have to step up," Williams said.

"I'm guessing Benji (Marshall) is gonna be in the team next year, and he'll have to step up, and all us young forwards are gonna have to step up too."

It's more than three months until the 2007 NRL season proper begins, but the Bulldogs are already in training six days a week.

Williams is approaching the pre-season differently this year, doing everything to avoid another injury.

"The NRL season is pretty long so I've learned to be more sensible with my training ... not be a bull out of the gate and not rush things," he said.

"I'm not going to go crazy three months before the season starts, I'm just gonna build up.

"But it's tough you know, we've got a three-day bike ride coming up. But yeah, it's just got to be done."

http://www.nrl.com/News/Latest/NewsArti ... fault.aspx

[Matthew]

Ravaged with injury at 21, wants to make as much money as possible, doesn't know how long he will be able to play for. Turned down $900K

No thanks

Let him go to stains and sit on their bench whilst wasting space on their salary cap

[Cruncher]

Matthew posted:
Ravaged with injury at 21, wants to make as much money as possible, doesn't know how long he will be able to play for. Turned down $900K

No thanks

Let him go to stains and sit on their bench whilst wasting space on their salary cap

You are surely not serious?

[adrenalinxx]

He could possibly be a replacement for Fletcher in the second row. I'm not a big fan of overseas players coming in but Sonny Bill Williams is deffinatly not a second rate New Zealander, he is one of the most talented player in the game and would bring alot to the Super League.

[Matthew]

Cruncher posted:

Matthew posted:
Ravaged with injury at 21, wants to make as much money as possible, doesn't know how long he will be able to play for. Turned down $900K

No thanks

Let him go to stains and sit on their bench whilst wasting space on their salary cap

You are surely not serious?

How many games did he play last year? What about the year before

What's the point of having a superstar if all they do is carry water bottles onto the pitch? With the cap we need every "superstar" to provide value for money.

Sonny Bill seems to be chronically injury prone and the last thing we need is a player who plays less half the games in a season.

If we are going to import yet another foriegn player into our team then I would prefer someone who is cheaper and more reliable - he won't do us any good on the treatment table. In order to fit into a side and reach top form you need to be playing regularly. He has clearly raised the possibility of coming to the UK so that he can negotiate a better deal for himself in the NRL - we have had enough players who turned up for the pay check over the last few years

Also, he has been convicted of drink driving - so there is a possibility that his discipline is suspect

[adrenalinxx]

He has played 41 games over 3 years so he hasn't played that much although 21 of those games came last season so he has played almost a full season.

[JIMH]

Great player but seems a bit too much like Nigel Wright for me. He doesn't play enough matches

[StevosShrink]

Sonny Bill played almost every game for the Bulldogs last year!!

He is awesome and if Wigan can get him then they should do everything in their power to make it happen.

If we dont want players like Sonny Bill then we might as well have been relegated.

[StevosShrink]

Sonny Bill played almost every game for the Bulldogs last year!!

He is awesome and if Wigan can get him then they should do everything in their power to make it happen.

If we dont want players like Sonny Bill then we might as well have been relegated.

[Cruncher]

Put it this way. We were wary of signing Jamie Lyon, because we were told he had a bad attitude and because he hadn't played the game much recently.

We then had to sit for two season and watch St Helens, who were his second choice British club, benefit from having one of the most talented centres in the game, while we were fielding the likes of Kevin Brown.

Do we want to make this mistake again?

Not that I think there's a cat in Hell's chance of SBW genuinely wanting to play in GB, but if he's making statements like these, then the very least we can do is look into it. In fact, we'd be totally crazy not to.