Sonny Bill is better placed to excel in rugby this time round. Photo / Getty
Sonny Bill is better placed to excel in rugby this time round. Photo / Getty
Different athlete, different player and, perhaps most significantly, Sonny Bill Williams has come back to rugby a different person.
He is, maybe for the first time in his career, seemingly entirely at ease with who and where he is. Rugby, it turns out, and not league, might be his true sporting love after all.
Whatever, Williams is almost unrecognisable from the man he was in his first stint in rugby. Back then, he was shy and awkward. He was reticent to talk, hiding behind bland lines that gave nothing away.
For the legions of people with fixed opinions about his lack of humility and concern for the concept of team, those stumbling, stilted public efforts were proof incarnate the All Blacks to Williams were just another box for him to tick as part of his legacy building.
That just wasn't it at all, though, as has become apparent already in Williams' second rugby crusade. He was horribly uncomfortable last time around because he barely knew the game or his team-mates and, yet, there was an insatiable public appetite for all things Sonny. It's easy to be confused by brand Williams and what it's all about but, really, he's a good kid from Mt Albert whose sporting goals don't extend much beyond winning the respect of those with whom he plays.
He never enjoyed that contradiction in his early rugby career of being so heavily in public demand at a time when he never felt he'd proven himself to the likes of Richie McCaw and Brad Thorn. He never enjoyed learning his craft in such an exposed way, never quite feeling he fitted in, and he had to be conscious of the resentment that had brewed as a consequence of the distance between his contribution and profile.
It's all so different second time around. The shyness is less painful. He's relaxed and open in a way that didn't look remotely possible between 2010 and 2012. The one-liners are not clutched at. Instead, Williams has been measured and articulate. He's been, at times, engaging, honest, open and thoughtful.
"This time around, it's not as uncomfortable as it was last time," he said before this morning's test against England. "I didn't know personally if I could play at that level and, secondly, I didn't know any of the other boys. This time around, I have the confidence in myself to be able to perform at that level and I also know the majority of the boys.
"For me, it's about improving as a player from the start of the tour to the end and I have to keep that simple mindset. I have got to try to not overplay my hand. The All Blacks are a great team and I am fortunate the coaches have shown faith in me to give me a jersey. I'm not looking to set the world on fire. I'm just looking to do my core roles properly. I think that is the special thing about the way Steve [Hansen] coaches the team. We leave no stone unturned in the prep and, when it comes to playing, it's just about going out to play."
The All Blacks culture of relentlessly aiming to be better is important to Williams. As an All Black, he's surrounded by like-minded athletes.
It's hard to see Williams and McCaw becoming great mates but they have a shared passion to succeed - they are both similarly driven, focused and determined.
Now that Williams has clocked up 20 tests and removed any doubt about his ability to play at the highest level, that pursuit of sporting excellence is a unifying bond. He's now connected to all parts of the team - accepted and valued by the leadership group not because of the SBW legend, but because he upholds the All Black values.
"That's the greatest thing about this team. You have every little avenue possible to go down to make yourself better able to perform," he says. "If I don't know, I'm confident to go and ask. I'm not, 'oh this is how it's done'. I will find out how it works for me and when you add these little things up, you get the right values. But I'm still learning."
SBW didn't push the miracle pass against the US last week. Photo / Getty
Just as Williams feels more comfortable around the team's leaders, he and Hansen appear to be growing a special bond. In short, Hansen gets Williams. The coach has made rugby life as simple as possible so that Williams can use every aspect of his athletic potential. With Hansen at the helm, Williams has clarity. He has concise, uncomplicated guidance which boils down to run straight, run hard and use the offload wisely and judiciously. That's it tactically.
Culturally, while Hansen hasn't necessarily done anything specific, all the players talk of an environment having been established where they can be themselves and it's no different for Williams.
Knowing when to offload is the big one for Williams to learn. When he first played rugby, he tried to throw the miracle ball nearly all the time. When he played the US last weekend, he didn't throw one.
"I don't think he needed to offload," says Hansen about the Eagles test. "He's a good decision-maker around that. It doesn't matter what game you play, if you are a good offloader, you are a good decision-maker, and he made good decisions right throughout that game.
"I think he's been excited about coming back to rugby for a long time. We know why he went back to league - he's fulfilled an obligation he felt he had to - but I think his love is rugby. He really loves the game. He feels like he's got more freedom playing it and I read the other day he actually mentioned that."
Age has also been a factor in Williams' transformation. He's getting close to 30 and he's seen a fair bit. He's lived in France, Australia and New Zealand, travelled the world to play league and rugby and box and, with all that, has come an inevitable maturity. He's also about to become a dad for the first time.
Williams knows himself these days - knows what works for him and what doesn't. From what he eats, when he sleeps to how he trains, Williams has it all under control. It's the same with his expectations. Everyone wants to know how quickly he can find his feet in rugby again. Will we see Williams at his best before summer?
"When you start thinking too far ahead, you get lost on the little things," he says. "I can't do that. I know I have to do a lot of hard work. There's a lot of noise from this person or that person but I have to really zone in on what I have to do and one of those things is earning the boys' respect. That comes from being meticulous in your work.
"I just go out there and say I won't be in the wrong spot so when the coach is doing the video analysis, he's not pointing at me saying, 'where the beep are you at?' But also backing my instincts."
He can't answer the question of how long it's going to be before he's playing as well as he did at the end of his last stint. But what Williams knows is he began preparing for his code swap long before he finished with the Roosters. The physical demands of the two sports are different to the extent Williams is heavier and leaner than he's ever been.
"One of the toughest things I have found coming back into this environment, I have had to change my body shape again to be able to play in the backs [in rugby].
"In the forwards [in league], it's short running and you're working on contact. In rugby, you're running a lot longer and faster. I haven't run as fast in the last couple of years as I have in the last few training sessions. I love running. I love the physicality of the game but I also love running with the ball, working on new things, to think on the run and the coaches getting you to try to see what they see.
"That stuff when I first came back to rugby was unfamiliar to me - just trying to work gradually on little things and you pick them up little by little. After a couple of months, you start getting better and better."
