Richard Loe: Boot money could fit SBW

Sonny Bill Williams. Photo / Alan Gibson

I see there have been more rumblings that another rugby league club - the Roosters, this time - is having a crack at enticing Sonny Bill Williams back into the 13-man game.

That'll start a few more tongues wagging about Sonny Bill being a fairweather friend; someone here only until after the World Cup; and it'll start some folk off on his boxing again.

However, I think Sonny Bill could surprise a lot of people by staying and the key could be those people known as adidas.

Sonny Bill was signed to the adidas stable recently - that's their bright green boots he wears now - and maybe he's the next Jonah Lomu for them.

Whatever he's earning by playing rugby here and being an All Black could be greatly enhanced by his adidas earnings. The link gives the NZRU, and adidas, the ability to pump up his income when the time is right.

Compare that to the salary cap in league; some of the unsavoury drink and anti-women things going on all the time in the NRL; and the fact that Williams is still remembered negatively for the way he left the Bulldogs to go to rugby. I say it to my son all the time: If you do something bad, you need to do 10 or 12 good things to balance the books - and even then, people will still remember the bad.

France and European rugby might be an attraction but, depending on what happens in the World Cup, there could be plenty of incentive for him to stay.

There may also be room for the NZRU to move as they have done for Dan Carter and Richie McCaw. That four-year contract with the ability to take a year off, or a sabbatical, or what have you, is a clever weapon - and could be applied to Sonny Bill as well.

He is clearly the start of a new era of professional players, as he successfully traded off the fact that the NZRU couldn't pay him enough, with him being able to pursue his boxing.

It's clever too because, in the case of McCaw, I think that if he took a year off, it would probably be the end of his career. It may be a clever way of keeping this top player at the top for an extended period.

It's hard coming back from a long layoff. I remember, when I had my sabbatical (in my day, they spelt it s-u-s-p-e-n-s-i-o-n), that people told me I'd never get back in the All Blacks because Olo Brown and Craig Dowd were going well.

What motivation that was! All I wanted to do was piss off the doubters by getting fit, in form and back in the test side. And I did, before Dowdie took over again

The game has changed, however. It's much faster and demanding, particularly in McCaw's position, and time off might make it hard to come back. But, hey, I am not going to say that this great player couldn't do it.

Carter had injury as his motivation after being invalided out early in his spell in France and he wouldn't have wanted to go out that way. Now, we are waiting to see what he wants to do after the World Cup and there's no doubt the package the NZRU have put in front of him will be attractive and not without its challenges.

But back to Sonny Bill. A lot depends on how he is used in the World Cup. Many feel he should be played instead of Ma'a Nonu and, on current form, you'd have to agree.

However, many also feel that he would be at his best as a substitute and there's no doubt Williams would be a dynamic force with the game opening up in the later stages.

Defence coaches around the world will be wondering how to combat his offloading, though a lot will depend on how much room his All Black team-mates can give him. If you watched the Highlanders beat the Crusaders the other day, Sonny Bill came on late and attempted to breach the line.

The Highlanders tackled him high and low, preventing the offload and pretty much stifling him. That will not have gone unnoticed, though it must be said that the Crusaders that night didn't make inroads into the Highlanders' defence and were looking to Sonny Bill to do it. Again, it'll come down to the gaps his team-mates can create for him.

Whatever the future for Sonny Bill, my guess is that it will not involve an NRL club - or maybe not in the short-term. There may be far more on offer to him if the All Blacks can crow after the World Cup; crow more than the Roosters can.