Sonny Bill Williams

With Sydney Roosters re-signing forwards Aidan Guerra and Tinirau Arona, fans are beginning to question whether the club has given up on luring Sonny Bill Williams back to the NRL next season - and possibly with good reason. As revealed by the Herald two weeks ago, Williams has a massive offer from Japanese rugby union powerhouse Panasonic and the Wild Knights rarely miss their man. Team manager Hitoshi Iijima told the Herald that the two-year deal would be the biggest Panasonic had made for any player, surpassing the $US1.1 million that South African centre Jaque Fourie was paid last season. According to speculation in Australian rugby union circles, the Wild Knights have offered Williams $1.5 million per season - an offer the All Blacks star may find too good to refuse.

CRONK IT OUT

Only weeks after organising his own press conference to announce he was staying with the Storm, Cronk has created his own website - coopercronk.com. He has also written most of the content, including articles headlined ”Hold the front page - Cooper Cronk doesn’t wear a cape!”, ”This is no feel-good Hollywood movie”, and ”Dreams are like fish, they can slip through your fingers”. In the latter, Cronk tells how his first pre-season in 2003 was a lot tougher than he had anticipated. ”For a boy who was normally up the front, I found myself 50 metres behind the slowest bloke - and he was 30kg heavier than me,” Cronk wrote. ”I didn’t know what was going on. Then one day I collapsed at training. I was copping it from everyone, including the coach saying ‘Get up, you lazy so-and-so’. I was taken to hospital by ambulance and diagnosed with anaemia - a lack of blood in my system as a result of bleeding ulcers in my stomach. I was distraught, embarrassed and totally of the opinion that I wasn’t cut out to be a professional footballer. I gave up. It was too hard. So I did what any other teenager would do … which was sulk, whinge and blame everybody else. The thing that changed most, the thing that saved me, is I stopped blaming everybody else.”

KIDS PLAY

Perhaps NSW coach Ricky Stuart should hire Cameron Smith’s young son Jasper, 2, if he wants to put the Queensland captain off his game. After deferring his regular Tuesday stint on Sky Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast to be with his wife Barbara after the birth of their second daughter Matilda, Smith was at home with Jasper and daughter Jada, 4, when he went on the program the following morning. However, things did not go well and Smith was forced off air. He later texted host Terry Kennedy. ”It is just too hard. I can’t get away,” Smith said.

PARRA PRESSURE

While Parramatta officials understand the focus on the club’s poor start to the season, they are also bemused that Penrith and Wests Tigers aren’t subjected to the same attention. The Panthers have won only two games and three of the Tigers’ four wins have been by one point, including two golden-point wins. ”They were favourites to win the comp and they are just getting over the line,” Eels chairman Roy Spagnolo said of the Tigers. ”We have got to do that.” The Eels are understood to be in the market for Melbourne back-rower Sika Manu and Manly pair Tony Williams and Darcy Lussick.

CASUALTY WARD

NSWRL referees boss Chris Ward is under pressure to stand down after a vote of no confidence was successfully moved against him at an association meeting on Monday. Sin Bin was told the meeting was attended by more than 70 current and former referees who voted for the motion by a clear margin. Ward has so far refused to relinquish the chairman’s job.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/sbws-japanese-deal-gives-chooks-little-to-crow-about-20120510-1yfo1.html#ixzz1uXCgg3EX

Sonny Bill Williams is thriving at the Chiefs. Who knew Hamilton could refine individuals for the better?

His 60-minutes in Pukekohe last night showed glimpses of talent but you get the feeling his best is yet to come. Stand by. This show will be worth watching.

With the right off-field advice and nous either side of him, Williams has simplified his game. He is unselfish within this solid structure, not overstating his influence.

Williams now seems comfortable at second five-eighths, and with that assured confidence, hasn’t looked more threatening in the 15-man code.

With boxing on backburner until later in the year, Williams has mounted an increasingly compelling case for the All Blacks’ No12 jersey.

Remember, the world cup wasn’t a career highlight. The headlining superstar was reduced to a bit-part player, not required when the tournament entered crunch time. And he didn’t take kindly to being on the outer, didn’t show up for the victory parades. Maybe that motivation is now driving him. He might have a world cup voodoo doll.

Last year, Williams liking for the pugilistic art impinged on his freakish abilities and blunted consistent impact. He took on too much. Now, he has the balance right.

Like most, Steve Hansen has noticed. Impress those that matter, they say. This week Hansen made a bold statement. Williams had surpassed Ma’a Nonu. That is debatable, as the incumbent’s form suffers in the malfunctioning Blues rabble. Hansen could be after a reaction from Nonu after publicly challenging him. Nonu, historically, rises for the national team. His ego relishes a scrap.

With the maturing Aaron Cruden, goal-kicking with supreme accuracy duck shooters would admire, Williams and Richard Kahui, in partnership with their playmaker, are proving a readymade, in-form alternative to the world-class trio of Dan Carter, Nonu and Conrad Smith. Changing that formation was nonsensical not long ago. Talk about being flush with options, Steve.

Williams’ value on attack is two-fold. He attracts defenders, either on destructive bursts or as a decoy runner, opening space wider out.

And his offloading prowess is always evident.

But there is work to be done. He does not boast Kahui’s complete skill-set. The Chiefs centre might again be used on the wing for the All Blacks, simply because he deserves inclusion, somewhere.

Back to the 26-year-old, 108kg Williams. His defence can be suspect when flat-footed and targeted on the inside shoulder. And he should never put boot to ball. Those flaws can be ruthlessly exposed at international level.

Sections of public don’t want him selected in the All Blacks with the future unclear. A possible deflection to rugby league would be a slap in the face.

There is opinion Williams would prohibit another player’s development.

Anger that he doesn’t value, or fully appreciate, the All Blacks’ legacy. A slave to the dollar, some suggest.

But, regardless of the polarising views, he cannot be overlooked.

Murmurs have surfaced he may re-sign next year with the NZRU after close mentor Wayne Smith committed to Chiefs. But money remains the ultimate barrier.

Yo,

I paid to see the sonny bill fight a while back and don’t feel like I got my moneys worth. In fact I believe that the whole thing was staged like wrestling is staged. I can pick these things out because when I was younger I was trained by Spider Kelly. If you know about boxing you will know about Spider Kelly. How about if young sonny fights me? No scripts, no rehearsals. If I win I get my money back. If sonny wins, I tile both of your rooves for free.

The NZRU’s offer to re-sign Sonny Bill Williams is on the table and they’re giving the All Blacks second-five time to make his decision.

As always with Williams, there is endless speculation over what his next move will be, caused by his insistence on only signing one-year deals.

His ban with the NRL comes to an end next year and Australian media have been reporting since February that he is close to signing with the Sydney Roosters.

Newcastle Knights legend Matty Johns said back then that as far as he knew, Williams would “100 per cent” be at the Roosters next season. “There’s only the details about his boxing career to sort out,” Johns said.

But there has been little news since then. South African media reported last week that Williams could be going to the Stormers, as his manager Khoder Nasser was in Cape Town. But Williams quashed this speculation by tweeting that Nasser was in South Africa to organise a boxing bout at the end of this year.

There is sure to be interest in Williams in France, where he began his venture into rugby.

But the NZRU hasn’t given up on keeping one of the most marketable sportsmen of either code and CEO Steve Tew says its offer for Williams is out there.

“We’ve been talking to Khoder and he understands what we can do,” Tew told Sunday News.

“Right now, as I understand it, Sonny Bill is very focused on performing for the Chiefs and from what I’m seeing, he’s doing a very good job of it.

“When they’re ready to make their decision they’ll make it and we’ll support whatever they decide.

“They know what we want to do and they’ve got the offer.

“It’s an ongoing discussion but we’ve given them time to focus on what he’s doing now.”

Williams has clearly enjoyed his time at the Chiefs but a decision to remain in New Zealand may depend on what he thinks his chances are of getting a regular starting spot in the All Blacks.