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Sonny Bill's bombshell: It was just common sense

 
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Peter Cassidy | rugbyleaguelive.com | 07/08/08 | 0

 

AUDIO - Good can come from this: Sonny Bill

 

The Sonny Bill Williams saga has taken another astonishing twist with the Bulldogs defector insisting his decision to walk away from rugby league was "common sense".

Williams, who officially signed with French rugby club Toulon on Tuesday, insisted he has acted selflessly, and that his defection is "about the boys getting a fair go."

The 23-year-old Kiwi international says the NRL salary cap is crippling rugby league and the players aren’t getting a fair go.

"Hopefully some good can come out of what I've done... and it wakes everyone up and they realise that something needs to be done," Williams told Channel Nine.

"If a lawyer, if a teacher, it a bus driver is on $40,000 and they get offered a lot more money to go everywhere else...what are they going to do?

"Are they going to change bus companies?

"Or are they going to sit there and say 'oh, all these people want to me to stay here because I'm the best bus driver'?

"It's just common sense."

Williams turned his back on the Bulldogs less than one season into his $400,000 a season contract when he boarded a plane for France a fortnight ago.

His shock departure has sparked outrage amongst Australia's rugby league fraternity, with disillusioned fans in the dark about the cause for his sensational code-switch.

But Williams says it's not about him.

"What I've done has shown it's just not about me. It's about the boys getting a fair go."

"It's about them having the balls to stand up for themselves and get what they should be getting.

"If we're getting treated like that... why can't we treat the clubs like that?

"I just want to see the game and the players looked after the way they should be."

Williams then hit out at NRL CEO David Gallop, who has slammed Williams' defection and has backed the Bulldogs' legal efforts to gain an injunction preventing him playing in France.

"The crowds don't turn up to watch David Gallop play. They crowds don't turn up to see the CEO's play. They turn up to watch the players play."

The crowds don't turn up to watch David Gallop play... Sonny Bill Williams

 
 
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7/08/2008 4:46:55 AM No one is turning up to watch the players play at the moment sonny!!! Because the players standards have dropped Posted by: Jerry Atrick, Ryde, Australia Reply

7/08/2008 4:59:48 AM What an arrogant piece of ....... $onny bill is,claiming to be the "best bus driver in the district" the show pony has played not even half the games he could of in the past because of so called injuries,how about if the bulldogs turned around in the previous seasons and said we are only going to pay you for the games youve played!there would have been an uproar,the bloke has lost all respect and to take advice of Mundine and his GERM manager is the biggest mistake he could possibly have made.
Posted by: New Tunski, Amaroo, Australia Reply

7/08/2008 5:30:30 AM What a piece of scum this guy is. That's right Sonny if a bus driver etc gets offered more money they would take it and they would give the required notice under their employment contract be it 2 weeks, 4 weeks etc and then start their new job. They would have their pay docked if they try to leave early. You agreed to another 4.5 years employment and you should work it out just like all the bus drivers and teachers of this world. Posted by: Michael Bluth, Parramatta, Australia Reply

7/08/2008 5:39:25 AM If I were a bus driver earning $8,000 per week, I'd be happy to stay where I was until my 5 year contract, which I insisted on, ran out. I guess I'm just honest. Posted by: David Laughing, Bowral, Australia Reply

7/08/2008 6:51:10 AM This kid is a fool and needs to wake up to himself imho ffs Posted by: John Adam, Coonabarabran, Australia Reply

 

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