KEY POINTS:
Sonny Bill Williams has been making plenty of noise of late about wanting more money from his NRL contract.
He signed that piece of paper within the last 18 months and it is a five-year deal.
In that 18 months, for whatever reason, he has changed his manager
from Gavin Orr who negotiated that agreement to Anthony Mundine's promoter/manager Khoder Nasser.
Williams is making much of the notion that he can make much more money in England or France playing union, doubtless influenced in no small measure by Nasser who does not get a percentage from the deal negotiated through Orr. Nasser is certain to be pushing to deliver on the promises of the extra millions that he made to Williams before he became the player's agent.
I believe the Bulldogs have to stand fast against this, for the sake of the NRL. From what I understand, the Dogs' response to Nasser is that he's not an NRL-accredited player manager, they are pointing him - and Williams - to the existing contract and telling them they expect it to be honoured. For the Bulldogs' sake, both in terms of on-field performance and the off-field sponsorship and merchandising opportunities, they must not let Williams out of his contract. If they do, it will set a precedent within the NRL allowing any star who signs anywhere to act petulantly when approached by union or a Super League club as they try to force their existing club to pay more money or grant an early release.
Williams is probably being paid market rates in the Aussie premiership. NRL clubs are not exactly cashed up at the moment. It was just last week that chief executive David Gallop warned that all nine Sydney clubs would not survive, one or two would have to go as the vehicles that top up their deficits - namely the leagues clubs that make much of their profit from poker machines - face increasing taxes and declining user numbers because of drink-drive and anti-smoking laws. The cash is drying up.
I have no doubt there is much talk among all the NRL chief executives around this funding issue and about the Williams issue. The consensus will be that if the Dogs don't force Williams to honour his contract it will make a mockery of every player contract throughout the NRL.
The dynamics of this contract fracas are reversed with Ruben Wiki at the Warriors. While both sides are saying all the right things in the media - that Wiki needs better form and to get over injury before returning to the NRL - the Warriors management will be looking at the amount of money he is costing while turning out for the reserve grade. They will encourage him to either a.) retire or b.) move to a Super League club, therefore taking part or all of his considerable pay out from under the salary cap and allowing them to spend it to bolster their squad.
My advice to Wiki is to hang tough, to play the games he is required to play for the Auckland Vulcans and do his best to force a return to first grade.
Wiki is made of sterner stuff than to let a slump in form and a little pressure from management force him to retire early. You do not get to 295 games in the Aussie premiership and to top the all-time test appearance record if you crumble at the first sign of adversity and pressure. Wiki is one of our greatest players and if the Warriors management are smart they will do all in their power and whatever it takes to help him reach the career milestone of 300 games.
It is in their interest to do so simply from a marketing and ticket-sales point of view! But also because Wiki, in top form, remains a devastating performer. He might not start each game but he can be incredibly effective coming off the bench.
One thing is guaranteed - he will not make the mistakes nor do the incredibly dumb things that Epalahame Lauaki does on the field.
