Sonny Bill Williams’ NRL return all about value for Sydney Roosters
The NRL is a vastly different place to the one Sonny Bill Williams last featured in 2014. It’s fair enough to ask if one of the world’s best athletes will keep up, writes David Riccio
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Sonny Bill Williams is coming to the Roosters to do things that the rest of us will never see.
That‘s why the Roosters want him.
There‘s no other explanation.
Because seriously, let‘s all ‘dog ear’ the page on rugby league’s Mills and Boon moment for 2020 and break this romantic comeback story down for what it is.
So long has it been since Williams last played in the fastest, toughest and most heavily-scrutinised rugby league competition in the world, that the NRL have made 15 changes to the rules.
Instead of stuffing an airport duty free Toblerone into his luggage on the way through customs next week, Williams would be better served picking up the NRL rule book.
The NRL is a vastly different place to the one he last featured in back in 2014. It‘s now fair enough to ask if one of the world’s best athletes will keep up.
When Williams left the Roosters one game shy of the grand final in the 2014 preliminary final — 2128-days ago as delighted South Sydney fans will recall — there was no NRL bunker.
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With Williams playing rugby union in New Zealand before moving to Toronto to play for the Wolfpack in the English Super League this year, the NRL have been back here speeding up the game.
The administrators have reduced interchanges from 10 to eight, introduced scrum and drop-out clocks, made 20/40s and captain’s challenge a thing, not to mention one referee and the new six-tackle rule.
More recently?
Before the English Super League shutdown in March, Williams was able to punch out five matches for the Wolfpack; one from the interchange bench and the other four by starting at second-row.
Outside of the expected, that he leads the paused-competition in offloads with 23 (six more than his nearest rival), Williams sits outside the top 20 players for almost every major statistic.
Those numbers need to be treated warily given the Wolfpack have been beaten by a combined scoreline over their past five matches of 252 to 60.
Which is a fair reason why the dual-international’s best numbers are in defence, making 107 tackles in five games and missing just seven.
With the ball, Williams had a total of three tackle busts and an average of 5.69-metres per carry with the football from his five matches.
Williams, 35 in eight days, will become the NRL’s third oldest player behind Cameron Smith (37) and Benji Marshall (35) when he returns.
In reality, it all means nothing to the Roosters.
Hit-ups, carries, offloads, birthdays, that‘s not why Robinson turned to his two captains Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend last week to ask: “What do you think if we got Sonny?”
“He’s a Rooster and he’s going to add value in some key areas,” Robinson said when I asked him on Friday about what Williams could offer the team after six years out of the game.
“That‘s a fair question and we’ve talked about all that. We’ve talked about all of that and been really honest with each other.
“But a couple of things I know, I know the value of his professionalism and the mentality of him as a person.
“We understand that it’s a big task, but he’s a guy that loves taking on big challenges and also, I won’t be capping him on what his ability to do things may be for this season.
“I think they‘re all relevant points and we’ve talked about them, but we’re also looking forward to a challenge of adding value.
“We’re not looking for anything spectacular although he’s capable of it.
“We’re looking for a guy to add value to our squad.”
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Robinson’s description of Williams’ “value” is different to that of fans and commentators.
Value is a quiet word to Kyle Flanagan about handling pressure in his rookie year.
Value is an arm around Victor Radley as he embarks on a 12-month rehabilitation program from a knee reconstruction.
Value is easing the pressure for Cordner and Friend to focus on themselves instead of the team, at the back-end of a season, with no breaks or byes.
The Sydney Roosters, the back-to-back premiers, are about to bring Williams into their team for between five and eight games, depending on whether they make this year‘s grand final.
For some of us it’s a gamble, even if Williams is used for 25-30 minutes a game.
But the Roosters see value in what the rest of never will.
And in a year of uncertainty, this is exactly to script.