KEY POINTS:
Sonny Bill Williams is casting a large shadow on return to his old home town and another National Rugby League joust with the New Zealand Warriors.
The Bulldogs take on the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday, smarting from a 12-40 defeat in a much-hyped clash against
the Sydney Roosters last weekend.
The margin didn't do justice to the efforts of the Bulldogs, for whom Williams was in dominating form.
The Kiwis second-rower racked up 132m on his charging runs, made 30 bruising tackles and again demonstrated his dangerous offloading ability, getting the ball away seven times.
Warrior coach Ivan Cleary admitted that there was only so much that opposition sides could do to try to shut Williams down.
One thing was to avoid turning over possession so he didn't get any extra opportunities to do damage. Another was maintaining defensive focus when the play went his way.
"The thing about Sonny Bill is that you're not going to stop everything he does," Cleary said.
"It's just a matter of everyone being alive when he gets the ball and doing their best."
The Warriors already have close-hand experience of Williams' ability to influence a contest.
They haven't beaten the Bulldogs since the 22-year-old made his NRL debut four years ago.
In the corresponding fixture last year, he produced a star turn against the undermanned Warriors, who had winger Michael Crockett sent off after just five minutes for a high tackle.
Williams scored two tries and made two others as the Bulldogs romped to a 40-20 victory to maintain an unbeaten streak against the Warriors stretching back to 2003.
But Cleary also pointed to the Bulldogs' ability across the park.
He said he was surprised at criticism of the Bulldogs late last year that they didn't play enough football and were too one-dimensional.
"They probably played more footy than any other team and a lot of it is stuff that's really hard to stop," he said.
"They just have dangers all across the field. They always have. You just have to be on your toes and ready for anything when you play against them."
Cleary's warning is backed up by statistics, with the Bulldogs leading the NRL this season in line breaks with 27.
One area of interest is how the Sydneysiders, who have brought in prop Justin Tsoulos for the injured Kane Cleal, respond to the announcement this week that long-time coach Steve Folkes will be leaving at the end of the season.
The Warriors have named an unchanged 17, with the only switch being second rower Logan Swann coming back into the starting line-up for youngster Sonny Fai.
They are looking to cash in on their second successive home fixture and maintain their unbeaten record at Mt Smart Stadium this year.
Last week, they downed Newcastle 26-20 in a remarkable reversal in fortunes after having had 50 points put past them in Manly in the previous round.
Cleary cited attitude as the key ingredient in the turnaround.
"I thought our attitude was really spot on," he said.
"Our effort was great. There's a few execution things we need to fix up, but all in all I was happy with the performance against a team that was going pretty well."
The Warriors were aided by huge improvement in their completion rate - 86 per cent against the Knights compared with less than 50 per cent against the Sea Eagles.
It was the best completion rate Cleary could remember in his two and a bit years as club coach.
- NZPA
