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Why the NRL needs to help Williams

Things are going from bad to worse for Manly. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Roar Guru
11th July, 2014
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Our whole lives we know that if we ever get a chance to play professional footy, we could never bet on a match – let alone one we’re playing in.

Unfortunately, the eccentric character that is David ‘Wolfman’ Williams missed that memo, and that is why he will be suspended for the rest of the rugby league season.

Everyone who follows league would know of Williams, who seems to an outsider as a larger than life character that isn’t scared of what anyone else thinks of him.

His career has been injury riddled to say the least, and since 2008 he has never seen a season that has brought him the same amount of success.

Winning the NRL premiership with Manly, scoring a try in a grand-final, scoring three tries on debut for Australia and playing in a World Cup final. It must’ve been a dream season for him.

Williams played two games for New South Wales the following year in 2009 and scored two tries, but was subsequently dropped and has never again played Origin football.

After a virtually non-existent season in 2010, Williams broke his neck in 2011 during a Round 25 match and was ruled out for the rest of the season. His teammates went on to eventually win the premiership.

Since coming back, Williams has failed to regain form similar to that in 2008. The only talking points about Williams after returning from injury included dying his beard pink for the Women in League Round, modelling for Calvin Klein and even making his acting debut in 2013.

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This, and a string of injuries, has led us to the point we’re at now with Williams banned for betting on matches, included some Manly matches. And although this is a massive breach of the rules the NRL needs to support Williams and help him get through this troubled time.

Why? Because of a man named Ryan Tandy.

Although these two situations cannot be properly compared because the details of the Williams incident haven’t been released, the case with Tandy can be used as a very unfortunate example.

Tandy was found guilty of match-fixing in 2011, and an appeal against a life-ban in January 2014 eventually led to Tandy killing himself in April 2014. Tandy was left feeling alone and his career was in ruins, and this led to a suspected depression which led to him overdosing and killing himself.

The NRL must take a controversial stand and do whatever they can for David Williams to make sure he doesn’t suffer the same fate, even if a life-ban is seen as an appropriate sanction.

The public shame and embarrassment Williams is facing at the moment is something most of us can only imagine, and both his club and the NRL need to assist him in getting through this time.

This is a perfect situation for the NRL to take a stand against depression like they have vowed they will.

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Williams has definitely broken the rules and deserves a ban that should span a bit longer than the end of the NRL season. But the handling of this situation should be done gently so that the highly regrettable incident that was the death of Tandy will never be something seen in our game in the future.

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