Sonny Bill Williams

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**Sonny Bill Williams**
Personal information

Full name	Sonny William Williams
Date of birth	August 3, 1985
Place of birth	Auckland, New Zealand
Height	1.91 m
Weight	106 kg
Nickname	Bill / SBW
Position	Second-Row / Centre / Lock
Club information
Current club	Canterbury Bulldogs
Youth clubs
	Marist
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
2004–present	Canterbury	37 (52)
Representative teams**
2004–2006	New Zealand	5
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only and correct as of 14 August 2006. ** Representative team caps and points correct as of 6 May 2006.

Sonny Bill Williams (born Sonny William Williams on August 3, 1985 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a rugby league player for the Bulldogs in the National Rugby League competition and also for New Zealand. His position of choice is either in the second row or at lock; though he can also play at centre. It has been noted by many leading journalists that SBW has yet to live up to the hype tag that he carries around and despite sustaining various serious injuries has yet to solidify his spot in the starting side.

1 Childhood and early career
2 Bulldogs
3 New Zealand
- 3.1 Point scoring summary
- 3.2 Matches played
4 External links

[edit] Childhood and early career

Williams, who is of Samoan heritage, began playing rugby league football as an 8 year old, after watching both his father and older brother John Arthur play the game. His parents encouraging him to also take up the sport. He originally signed on to play for the Marist Rugby League Football Club in Auckland before being scouted as a teenager and being brought over to Australia at the age of fifteen by the Bulldogs.

[edit] Bulldogs

Sonny Bill Williams in action for the Bulldogs

Once signed by the Bulldogs, Williams worked his way up through the grades at the club playing in the SG Ball competition where he displayed his natural ability at an early age being awarded as the SG Ball player of the year.

After playing several games for the reserve side in 2003, Williams eventually made his first grade debut against the Parramatta Eels at Telstra Stadium on March 13, 2004 in round one of the National Rugby League competition while he was still only eighteen years of age. He received universal accolades for his debut performance in which, playing at centre/three quarter he scored a try against the Parramatta Eels, outclassing prominent Kangaroo representative, Jamie Lyon.

People questioned whether he should be able to play State of Origin even though he was not eligible being born outside of Australia.

As his contract began to expire Williams received several offers to attempt to lure him away from the Bulldogs with the biggest being from Super League club St. Helens, who offered him around $1 million a year ($3 million over 3 years) to play for them. Despite this offer Williams decided to stay loyal to his first club and signed on for a further two years with the Bulldogs.

At the end of his first professional season, Williams was duly rewarded by being presented with the International Newcomer of the Year award and he was also named in the 2004 World XIII.

After making a huge impact in his debut season, Williams had a short 2005. Several injuries to various parts of his body meant that he only played five games for his club and missed several International fixtures for New Zealand. On August 17 2005 it was revealed he had been charged with drink driving; the Bulldogs fined Williams $10,000 over the incident and he was forced to appear in Waverley Local Court on September 7, resulting in a fine and a suspended license.

In 2004 Williams rejected a massive $AU 900,000 from English rugby league club St Helens, showing his loyalty to the Bulldogs and wanting to prove himself in the world's toughest Rugby League competition. He is contracted to the Bulldogs until the end of 2007.

During 2006, Williams has spent considerable time playing at center/three quarter. However he would prefer to play in the forwards, as he explains, "We've been short in the backs so he(Bulldogs coach) chucked me out there for a while, but I'd like to stay in the forwards, you always want to be out there when it's on early. You want to be there when all the big hits are going on." [1]

Often injured, Williams has expressed his frustration at constantly being a spectator. "It seems like I've had injury after injury," he says. "More than anything, when you're not on the field a lot, it's tough mentally. You've got to be pretty strong mentally when you have injuries, and I've had a few. I only missed four or five games, so this year has been better. I guess I am growing into my body."

At the start of the 2007 season, Williams' contract status was a frequent news item in the Australia print media. A bidding war appeared to loom over his next contract, with one team offering a reported $6 million dollars (AU) over 10 years. Rumours were circling that Williams would sign with the NZ Warriors meaning a return to his homeland, but this was denied by the Warriors club, claiming financial hurdles such as Sonny Bill's deal with Nike would clash with the Warriors' deal with Puma. All speculation was ended when Sonny re-signed with the Bulldogs on the 9th of March with a 5 year contract believed to be worth over $320,000AUD per season that will see Sonny stay with the club through to the 2012 season.[2]