Why Tony Williams is experiencing his best season as a Bulldog

TONY Williams is experiencing his best season as a Bulldog. Why then, is nobody talking about the hulking former Test and Origin forward?

Bulldog Tony Williams during the round 3 NRL game between the Canterbury Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium,Homebush.Picture Gregg Porteous

WOAH, see the ripples?

There, in that glass of water.

And again.

A wonderfully Hollywood warning that from behind the next bush, rocky outcrop or mangled yellow jeep, a snarling Tyrannosaurus Rex is coming.

So why Tony Williams, has nobody screamed?

Seated now in the Belmore Oval grandstand, his hulking Polynesian frame stretched large over three plastic seats, Williams is talking you through life as league’s most polarising player.

Specifically, the lack of hype surrounding those ripples.

For according to the numbers, this Canterbury conundrum has opened 2016 by running, tackling, tearing with an intensity not seen since his halcyon days at Manly.

Averaging his most metres since 2012. His most tackles since, well, ever.

All up, ‘T-Rex’ posting the same numbers that once made him a Kangaroo.

Williams has experienced an up and down stint with the Bulldogs.

So why is nobody excited?

“For me, ah, I guess it’s been a while,” Williams shrugs. “Been tough, too.

“But I’m coming back this year with something to prove ... I want to get back in with NSW and Australia.”

And so again, ripples.

Just like against Manly in Round one, when no forward broke the line more times than Williams. Or a week later, against Penrith, when his metres were the equal of Sam Kasiano and Greg Eastwood combined.

And, sure, this isn’t devouring Jurassic Park keepers whole.

Tony Williams has been one of the Bulldogs’ best in 2016. Picture Gregg Porteous

Not yet.

But know that, right now, Williams is averaging 116m per game, his most since those beautiful Brookvale winters. And in defence, tallying a PB of 20 tackles.

“So things are good,’’ he continues. “And can get much better.

“I missed a lot of last year with injury and, when I did come back, was well below my best.

“So now I’m trying to play more direct. Not passing as much.

“I’m not waiting anymore, either.”

Not waiting?

“Last year I was waiting for the ball to come to me,” the 116kg forward continues. “Holding back.

“There are so many good forwards here at Canterbury, every one is an international basically, and that can make things hard.

“But this year I’m calling for the ball. Going to find it.”

But as for finding redemption in the Court of Public Opinion?

Tony Williams has played three Origin games, making his debut in 2012. Pic Darren England.

For of all the NRL players competing over this Easter Long Weekend, none polarise quite like The Rex.

Not Jamie Soward or Benji Marshall. Not even Dave Taylor or Chrissy Sandow were they still around.

“But I only play for team and family,’’ says Williams, a survivor now of 148 NRL games.

“For me, my team tells me how to play and, if I’m not up to their expectations, I’ll be dropped -- it’s that simple.

“Outside that, only family matters.

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“My son Tremaine, he’s turning three this year. And to look at him and see myself, or see him learning something new each day, it’s a blessing.

“That’s what matters.

“But what some guy in the crowd thinks? Nah, it’s none of my business.”

But still, Williams knows.

Aware that even now, in the earliest stages of Origin form, critics will be quick to point out that factor which drives so many form revivals -- being off contract.

“But it’s funny,” he continues later. “People will always say something. Like ‘oh, you’re so big’.

“But in the NRL, everyone is big. Have a look around.”

And so, we did.

Noting that were Souths enforcer Sam Burgess available for tomorrow night’s Good Friday blockbuster, this 193cm Bulldog wouldn’t be among the five tallest forwards. Nor the three heaviest.

But still, he’s big enough, right?

Remembering this same tattooed Colossus, with Sea Eagles in 2010, made a staggering 156 tackle busts. A measure on which every single appearance since has been judged.

For this is the ballad of the polarising leaguie.

Footballers like Jarrod Mullen, the playmaker forever marked against that NSW Origin jersey earned at 20. Or Jamal Idris, the NRL nomad who was touring with the Kangaroos at 21, touring with Contiki at 25.

Benji Marshall is forever measured against ‘The Step’. Jamie Soward, the promise of a Jersey Flegg field goal.

While poor old Braith Anasta, he spent a lifetime beneath some ‘Next Freddy’ tag he never even coined.

Of course, the other great polariser is cash.

Tony Williams was lured from Brookvale to Belmore by Des Hasler.

Just ask Daly Cherry-Evans. Or even Williams, whose shredding of the NRL came shortly before accepting $2.4 million from Canterbury.

And when you then throw in his considerable bulk ... well, call it the Holy Trinity of NRL polarising.

Yet ask if money makes a man comfortable and Williams throws up another factor which, when switching clubs in 2013, also cruelled him.

“They took away the shoulder charge,’’ he says. “That was such a big part of my game and, when it went, I found it hard to be aggressive.

“You look back when I was playing really well, there was a lot of contact. But now, it’s more about strategies, wrestling, stuff like that.”

So bring back the shoulder charge?

“I wish,’’ he laughs. “It would be good. Plus with the wrestling, twisting and so on ... the injuries are worse now than when guys were shoulder charging.”

Still, despite all this, Williams now seems finally ready to do some damage of his own.

Quizzed on the expectation that now shadows his every run, the enigmatic enforcer says: “The first couple of years here at Canterbury, it was really hard.

“But now I know the game. Know that stuff is all part of it.

“So this year, I’m just focused on doing well for this club. Then hopefully that will be enough to get me back into Origin, then the Australian side.

“That’s the goal for me.”

And so, we wait.

Watching a glass of water.

Keen to see what becomes of those ripples.

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Originally published as Why Tony Williams is experiencing his best season as a Bulldog