Sonny Bill Williams’ NRL return a pipe dream, writes Paul Kent
As a player, Trent Barrett always made his own luck and on Tuesday it appeared that luck would transfer to his coaching career after Sonny Bill Williams became available - but there’s a powerful hurdle to clear if they want to lure SBW back to the kennel.
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There is an impatience about ambition all the great ones have.
Trent Barrett is showing the same impatience now as he did as a player. He was a child prodigy who carried that into his NRL career.
Big and damaging as a ball-running five-eighth, he always wanted to get there before everyone else. Take the first step before everyone else, catch the ball a step earlier. Be through the gap before the defence could close it.
Barrett will be announced as Canterbury’s new coach on Wednesday but he is already moving about, setting the club up for next season. By late Tuesday all that remained in negotiations with the Bulldogs was details, but the deal was as good as done.
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Then, in what appeared some of that divine luck all the good ones seem to possess, a little of that luck seemed to rub off on his new club when news broke overseas that Toronto Wolfpack had withdrawn from the rest of the English Super League season and the great Sonny Bill Williams might be available for a cameo appearance for the rest of this season.
It quickly went around that the Bulldogs were already in talks with Williams. In fact, some worried, the Wolfpack announcement now alerted every NRL club that Williams might be available, spoiling their negotiations.
Once again luck seemed to be running Barrett’s way.
His arrival would benefit Barrett even though, with Barrett promising to finish this season as Ivan Cleary’s assistant at Penrith, there would be no direct relationship.
They still talk admiringly at the Roosters about the effect Williams had on teammates. They would get to training to find him there, stretching, then get in their cars to leave as Williams remained behind on the field, stretching.
Soon, one began joining him early, staying late, then another.
They changed their diets to match his, looked more thoroughly at their rehab.
Williams is arguably the greatest professional of his era, even if he is no longer the player he once was.
His impact on a struggling club like the Bulldogs would be immense and give them a taste of what Barrett will begin implementing next season.
It would be an ambitious effort to sign Williams, and the Bulldogs, and later the Warriors, were top of the list.
The longer the day went on, though, the more impossible the logistics looked.
The Dogs denied any interest in Williams. For one, they already know how difficult it would be to get him to Australia, and for what cost?
The Bulldogs have just finished going down this road with former St Helens prop Luke Thompson, who is now two games into his NRL career.
Negotiations with the Australian government to bring Thompson to Australia for the rest of this season took about a month, in all, with a solid two weeks of heavy negotiations before the Federal Government allowed Thompson to come in.
Part of the sell the Bulldogs delivered was Thompson was coming to Australia for the best part of a four-year deal and so would contribute strongly to the economy.
If there is one thing governments like it is money, and so a flight was ordered.
Thompson then had to undergo a 14-day quarantine in Melbourne before he was cleared to head to Sydney and hit the training field.
Williams’ arrival would be more difficult.
A Kiwi passport holder, he would not qualify as a resident returning.
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Because of his passport there is a chance he would have to come to Australia via New Zealand, which could possibly require a 14-day quarantine in New Zealand followed by a 14-day quarantine in Australia, even if he were to play for the Warriors.
It is already round 11 in the NRL.
There would also be the problem of Williams’ short stay. Unlike Thompson, who will play in the NRL until the end of the 2023 season, Williams would be here for a smash and grab.
A month long negotiation, with the COVID-19 infection rate on the climb, for a cameo stint at a club would hardly inspire the government to be lenient with the law.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is a Sharks fan, too, which doesn’t help.
Then the club would have to nurse him through quarantine, wasting more weeks.
It would be a massive commitment for diminishing gain.
Then you have to pay Williams enough to make him want to do it.
Elvis doesn’t come cheap.