The Sydney Rooster are hoping that Sonny Bill Williams' (L) experience as a teenage NRL star will help him mentor their own prodigy Joseph Suaalii (R). Photos / Getty
The Sydney Rooster are hoping that Sonny Bill Williams' (L) experience as a teenage NRL star will help him mentor their own prodigy Joseph Suaalii (R). Photos / Getty
Sonny Bill Williams has reportedly signed a deal with the Sydney Roosters to help the club maximise the potential of teenage signing Joseph Suaalii.
In 2004, Williams made his own teenage NRL debut for the Bulldogs and has gone on to forge one of the greatest careers seen in modernAustralasian professional sports.
By signing Williams as a mentor, to work specifically with Suaalii, the Roosters are hoping some of that gold dust will rub off onto the teenager's own career.
"SBW met with Roosters chairman Nick Politis, who has long wanted the dual international to have a role with the club post-football," Sun Herald writer Danny Weidler wrote last Thursday after spotting Williams at the club's training facility.
"Politis wants it even more after signing Suaalii. The pair will work well together."
While Williams will be spending the majority of his time in 2021 focussed on a professional boxing comeback, his experience in the NRL and as an All Black will be put to good use as a part-time mentor for Suaalii.
The most hyped talent rugby league has seen in years, 17-year-old Suaalii was at the centre of a tug of war between rugby union and league for his services, the high school student eventually choosing to pursue the 13-man code.
He then left Souths to join arch-rivals the Roosters, and the tri-colours are trying to convince the NRL to change eligibility rules that would allow Suaalii to debut before turning 18, such is the hype surrounding him.
In one of the most highly-anticipated pre-season debuts, the 1.96m teenager described as a "once-in-a-generation" talent delivered on the hype when he played the entire first half in the centres for the Roosters' NSW Cup feeder side, North Sydney at the end of February.
"That's what all the fuss is about," NRL commentator Tony Salerno told Kayo.
"Those long gangly limbs are going to be trouble for all defenders that try and put him down."
Meanwhile Williams, who last fought professionally in the boxing ring in 2015 and currently holds an undefeated record in seven pro bouts, will face former AFL hardman Barry Hall after a warm-up fight in April according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
