SONNY BILL WILLIAMS says he would be prepared to play for the Bulldogs again if he returned to the NRL but insists his main focus is on becoming a dual international.
Williams made the revelation in a wide-ranging interview with ABC Radio's Monica Attard, in which he also said that Cronulla Test lock Paul Gallen should have been suspended for racially abusing Dragons prop Mickey Paea and spoke about the damage that was done to his reputation by the infamous toilet tryst with ironwoman Candice Falzon.
Admitting he hadn't realised how big his standing in league was when he walked out on the Bulldogs last year, Williams said he had been unhappy with club management but was told by former teammates recently that things had since improved. While he suggested the Bulldogs wouldn't want him back, Williams said he wouldn't rule the club out as an option if he ever returned to the NRL.
"Oh, definitely. I guess, if things … I've spoken to a few of the boys there that I'm still mates with and it seems like, you know, things have changed there," he said. "But, look, I'm happy where I am, I'm happy playing rugby in France and definitely, at this stage in my career, I'm not really thinking too much about coming back to league."
However, Williams wouldn't rule out the possibility of playing league again - or of taking up boxing seriously, following his professional debut on the undercard to Anthony Mundine's IBO middleweight world title bout with Daniel Geale in Brisbane last month.
Asked if the money he can command in French rugby union would preclude him from returning to the NRL, Williams said: "If I can keep playing well and my asking price is, you know, still as high as it is, then, you know, definitely. But at this stage, I'm there for one more year and I'd like to think that, you know, I could come back here and one day play or go back to New Zealand and go to Japan … play rugby league, even take up boxing, you know."
Asked about the possibility of playing in the NRL again, he said: "You know, a lot of things would definitely need to fall into place. I guess like anything, like the right opportunity comes up."
But Williams said playing for the All Blacks would be the realisation of a dream, although he is currently happy playing and living in France.
"I definitely want to play rugby at the top level, international rugby," he said. "But if that doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. You know, when I first went to rugby I wanted it all, I just wanted it all and, you know, I thought it was just going to happen just like that but I've come to learn that good things take time. So I've just got to be patient, I've just got to keep trying to play good footy and learn as much as I can."
Asked about his chances of playing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, he said: "I think I'm a pretty confident player and I think over the next couple of years, if I stay on the field and I string together a lot of games and keep playing good footy and I keep learning the way I am now, I can. But at this stage, if I was a New Zealand selector, I wouldn't be in a rush to come knock on my door. You just have to look at the All Blacks back line and the players that are left out of the All Blacks team, you know the quality of the players over there is crazy."
Williams also spoke about the Gallen incident and said the NRL should have come down harder on the former Sharks captain.
"I just thought that with things like that, the NRL should take it upon themselves to stand up and do something you know? Which they have, but I don't think it was a harsh enough penalty.
"I reckon he should have been suspended and sent to do some courses or something like that because a lot of blokes have come out and defended Paul Gallen saying he's a really good bloke and this and that, but you just don't go around doing that, you know? Racial things to do with race, like racial things like that is really big and that's just not on."
Williams did, however, defend NRL players in light of the group sex allegations raised on the recent Four Corners program.
"It's not common at all, I don't think. I think the way that it's been made out [is] that rugby league as a whole treats women like ****, you know. The way that I was brought up was to treat women with respect and I know a lot of other players are in the same boat."
Asked about his tryst with Falzon, he said: "I've had to deal with that and I've had to go through the pain of being humiliated and humiliating my family and my mother and my sisters because that's just not how I was raised."
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/lhq...1244664855018.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Williams made the revelation in a wide-ranging interview with ABC Radio's Monica Attard, in which he also said that Cronulla Test lock Paul Gallen should have been suspended for racially abusing Dragons prop Mickey Paea and spoke about the damage that was done to his reputation by the infamous toilet tryst with ironwoman Candice Falzon.
Admitting he hadn't realised how big his standing in league was when he walked out on the Bulldogs last year, Williams said he had been unhappy with club management but was told by former teammates recently that things had since improved. While he suggested the Bulldogs wouldn't want him back, Williams said he wouldn't rule the club out as an option if he ever returned to the NRL.
"Oh, definitely. I guess, if things … I've spoken to a few of the boys there that I'm still mates with and it seems like, you know, things have changed there," he said. "But, look, I'm happy where I am, I'm happy playing rugby in France and definitely, at this stage in my career, I'm not really thinking too much about coming back to league."
However, Williams wouldn't rule out the possibility of playing league again - or of taking up boxing seriously, following his professional debut on the undercard to Anthony Mundine's IBO middleweight world title bout with Daniel Geale in Brisbane last month.
Asked if the money he can command in French rugby union would preclude him from returning to the NRL, Williams said: "If I can keep playing well and my asking price is, you know, still as high as it is, then, you know, definitely. But at this stage, I'm there for one more year and I'd like to think that, you know, I could come back here and one day play or go back to New Zealand and go to Japan … play rugby league, even take up boxing, you know."
Asked about the possibility of playing in the NRL again, he said: "You know, a lot of things would definitely need to fall into place. I guess like anything, like the right opportunity comes up."
But Williams said playing for the All Blacks would be the realisation of a dream, although he is currently happy playing and living in France.
"I definitely want to play rugby at the top level, international rugby," he said. "But if that doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. You know, when I first went to rugby I wanted it all, I just wanted it all and, you know, I thought it was just going to happen just like that but I've come to learn that good things take time. So I've just got to be patient, I've just got to keep trying to play good footy and learn as much as I can."
Asked about his chances of playing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, he said: "I think I'm a pretty confident player and I think over the next couple of years, if I stay on the field and I string together a lot of games and keep playing good footy and I keep learning the way I am now, I can. But at this stage, if I was a New Zealand selector, I wouldn't be in a rush to come knock on my door. You just have to look at the All Blacks back line and the players that are left out of the All Blacks team, you know the quality of the players over there is crazy."
Williams also spoke about the Gallen incident and said the NRL should have come down harder on the former Sharks captain.
"I just thought that with things like that, the NRL should take it upon themselves to stand up and do something you know? Which they have, but I don't think it was a harsh enough penalty.
"I reckon he should have been suspended and sent to do some courses or something like that because a lot of blokes have come out and defended Paul Gallen saying he's a really good bloke and this and that, but you just don't go around doing that, you know? Racial things to do with race, like racial things like that is really big and that's just not on."
Williams did, however, defend NRL players in light of the group sex allegations raised on the recent Four Corners program.
"It's not common at all, I don't think. I think the way that it's been made out [is] that rugby league as a whole treats women like ****, you know. The way that I was brought up was to treat women with respect and I know a lot of other players are in the same boat."
Asked about his tryst with Falzon, he said: "I've had to deal with that and I've had to go through the pain of being humiliated and humiliating my family and my mother and my sisters because that's just not how I was raised."
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/lhq...1244664855018.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
