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Sonny Bill Williams, whatever you think about him and his past actions, finds himself in a curious position currently, on both sides of the Tasman. Having turned his back on a massive offer to stay with French rugby club Toulon in June, Williams instead signed a comparatively modest deal with the New Zealand Rugby Union, to chase his dream of becoming an All Black.
Later, proving that he was serious in his bid for a black jersey, he signed to play Super Rugby with the heavyweight Christchurch-based Crusaders and provincial rugby with Canterbury, ignoring the pull of family to stay in or around Auckland.
His provincial debut, though, is starting to become a bit of an unknown in New Zealand.
At the time of his signing with Canterbury, it was expected that he might only miss the opening game of the ITM Cup, NZ’s National Provincial Championship, but with four weeks of the comp now done, he still appears no closer.
Just last week, Canterbury backs coach Tabai Matson told anxious reporters, “When he’s in the mix I’ll tell ya. [Williams’ debut will] be during the season some time. I’m not helping you, but I can’t, because I don’t know.”
And it’s not just the coaches who don’t know either; I’ve delayed writing this column three times now due to Williams’ non-appearance on the Canterbury team sheet!
But here’s where the Sonny Bill Williams story gets interesting on this side of the ditch, too.
With his 2008 NRL walkout still fresh in their minds, most Australian media carried news of his mooted and eventual return from France, his NZRU medicals, and ultimately, the news that he had decided to chase an All Black berth for next year’s Rugby World Cup. Williams has had a frequent media presence ever since, as he gets closer to playing again.
Or not, even, as it turns out.
His one and only appearance so far, about fifty minutes for Christchurch club Belfast on August 6, was covered fairly extensively by most Australian sports and rugby websites, and indeed, RugbyHeaven and ABC Grandstand are still carrying photos of his Belfast outing at the time of writing.
With the Christchurch Bledisloe Cup fixture on the same night, the Fairfax press even sent “Chief Rugby Correspondent” Greg Growden along to the Belfast game.
Growden, as well as making comment on how Williams played, would extol in the Sun Herald the value for money in paying a donation to the local primary school to secure a sideline seat, “with the added extra of a free sausage sandwich.” It was big news all round.
It was around this time that I first started thinking about this phenomenon, about how the Sydney sports media can’t seem to get enough of Sonny Bill, despite the nature of their coverage when he fled rugby league (where we saw the oh-so-clever tags, ‘Money-Bill Williams’, and ‘$BW’ applied).
If Sonny Bill Williams is still of so much interest as his All Black quest takes only tentative steps, what’s it going to be like next year when he starts playing for the Crusaders in the Super 15 competition, regardless of whether it’s against Australian sides or not?
It gets even more fascinating when you consider that the Nine Network, the current and long-term NRL broadcaster, takes on the broadcast rights to rugby in Australia from next year too, including a new one-hour weekly Super 15 highlights show.
Nine’s main NRL scout, gossip man Danny Weidler, can barely last a week without some form of Sonny Bill update, be it for his Sun Herald column, or in one of his only just news ‘exclusives’ for Nine News.
Poor Danny won’t know what to do with himself when Sonny Bill actually starts playing down this way again.
So given that Sonny Bill Williams is still big news these days, whether he’s playing or not, and given that Channel Nine still have an obvious affinity with him, is it too big an assumption that Sonny Bill might play a fairly large role in their rugby coverage next year?
I can’t believe I’m going to suggest this, but it seems to me that Sonny Bill Willliams, a Kiwi playing rugby in New Zealand and chasing an All Black jumper, could be a key factor in increasing the presence of rugby on free-to-air television in Australia.
If Nine and the Sydney rugby league media maintain their love affair with Williams, interest in rugby in this country can only go one way.
And if the weekly highlights show proves to be a winner, as punters tune in to get their weekly Sonny Bill fix, is it then too big a stretch to suggest that Nine could do worse than increasing the free-to-air footprint of rugby, maybe even to the point of replays, or even delayed coverage of Australian Super 15 games?
No doubt, changes to the anti-syphoning laws around the use of digital multi-channels will help this cause too, although after Saturday night’s election cliffhanger, those changes are probably no closer to being resolved.
It seems a funny fit, that Sonny Bill Williams equals increased free-to-air rugby interest in Australia, but it’s a fit that I can see being the case, and one that I believe the ARU would be mad not to exploit.
If in eighteen months time the most recognisable rugby player to kids in Australia is actually an All Black who plays for the Crusaders, who cares?
At the end of the day, rugby needs something to jolt it back into the mainstream in this country, and if it means hooking onto the Sonny Bill bandwagon, then I say fit him with a towbar.
This is my 50th piece for The Roar since my promotion into the red column just over twelve months ago. My humble and sincere thanks to all who have commented and critiqued, agreed and disagreed in that time. I appreciate the feedback and support just the same.