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We have had two months of NRL competition and are still waiting for Roosters big gun Sonny Bill Williams to show anything near his best football.
There are many who feel he is one of the best rugby league players on the planet, if not the best.
But he hasn’t risen above ordinary for the defending premiers this year, and he’ll need to show something soon or face the prospect of leaving the code as just another back-rower.
That may seem harsh but Williams prides himself on being the best in all facets of the game, and he hasn’t impressed in 2014 to the bewilderment of his legion of fans.
Where are the tackle-busting runs, the mercurial offloads and inspirational ball-and-all tackles that made him a standout for Sydney last season? Sadly, they are fading memories and even though many regard him as godlike at the Roosters, his NRL reputation is waning.
The Dally M awards are one way of seeing who is playing well and who is not in any given season.
So far, Sonny Bill Williams has polled one solitary point after eight rounds, and the bookies at Sportsbet currently rate him a 106/1 shot of winning the Dally M Player of the Year. They quoted him at 15/1 to win the major award before the opening round.
Due to suspension and injury, he has only played five of eight Roosters games, but NRL Stats show he is way down on being the dominant player we saw and got excited about in 2013.
Sonny Bill Williams hasn’t made a line-break nor scored a try. Six errors have been attributed to him, which is out of character. There are surely parallels between Williams’ form – or the lack of it – and Sydney’s patchy start to the season.
The Bondi Junction-based team has lost some close games that it made a habit of winning last season. The so-called ‘main man’ has failed to prove the difference as he did in that memorable second half of the grand final against Manly.
I am an admirer of Williams and all he brings to the rugby league table, but it’s a fact that he hasn’t been his old self and that’s disappointing.
Of course, there is a long way to go in the current season and Sonny Bill Williams may well explode back to his brilliant best against the Wests Tigers at Allianz Stadium on Friday night.
But that might not be possible as he recently suffered a bout of tonsillitis during a mini holiday in Bali. Williams reportedly lost six kilograms because of the illness and that’s damaging for such a highly tuned athlete.
I think there is cause for alarm over Sonny Bill’s quiet entrée to season 2014.
The Roosters are going to need him at his peak if they want to create modern history and snare back-to-back titles.
Footnote:
On a completely different subject, I was highly critical of Kiwi coach Stephen Kearney in my Roar column last week as I felt many of his Test team selections were way off beam.
I maintain that stance but feel obliged to congratulate the New Zealand team for a mighty effort against the Kangaroos. They performed way better than I dreamed possible and, with a tad more luck and better refereeing from Shane Hayne, they could have sprung one of the greatest upsets of all time.
Well done to all concerned, including coach Kearney, whose preparation and tactics were spot-on.
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