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All Blacks career over? Sonny Bill Williams linked to shock coaching switch
By Online Editors
All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams is being lined up for a rugby league coaching job, according to reports.
The 34-year-old is yet to confirm his playing future after the current Rugby World Cup with his New Zealand Rugby contract set to end after the pinnacle event.
With Williams' future a topic of hot debate, Nine reporter and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Danny Weidler has tipped the code-hopping star as lining up a coaching job at the NRL's Sydney Roosters.
According to Weidler, SBW's advisor Khoder Nasser was spotted at a Sydney cafe with Roosters chairman Nick Politis.
Weidler claimed that Williams is being sounded in a coaching capacity, not as a player, with the roster of the back-to-back champions already boasting several top players who play in Williams' potential positions.
The role is said to involve work with the Roosters' younger players in developing club culture.
Williams will likely have plenty of offers to choose from though, with Canadian outfit Toronto Wolfpack also keen to recruit him.
Wolfpack head coach Brian McDermott said Toronto wanted to bring in a "David Beckham-type player" and that Williams fit the bill.
"Our club would want to have a name that's absolutely international that everybody would recognise and help the profile of our game, very much like David Beckham did for Major League Soccer," McDermott added.
"But he would have to be a very good player as well, he's got to be able to do the job that I want him to do. There would be no token player or just a headline-grabbing player."
Williams enjoys legendary status in league and union and could be persuaded to return to the 13-man code, according to McDermott.
"His people have had conversations with our people and the answer wasn't no - he hasn't just shut it off.
"I'm not saying he's coming or is going to come, but the fact of the matter is he has responded and the answer wasn't no."
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.
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Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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