Just Heard on fox Sports Sonny Bill has left the Bulldogs and Australia apparently to join Tolouse RU side although the second part is a rumour. Could any Super league clubs be able to afford him.

the same sonny bill who is 1 year into a 5 year deal with the bulldogs and is tied into a contract with ''aboslutely no get out clauses'' according to the dogs GM.

SBW is a great player, but he has some serious box trouble!

Not saying the dogs are happy about it but he aint in Australia

he is at the hull semi final tomorow as a guest of Berrigan

He's gone for the challenge of the French Rugby Union 2nd Division.

I dont want him in SL the guys trouble and Im sick of him. He seems to think he's bigger than just about everything despite being a crock.

[url=http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/williams-does-a-runner/2008/07/26/1216492800240.htmlSonny Bill AWOL[/url

RL in Australia seems to be struggling at the moment from raids like this and the threat of Aussie Rules. The game in Australia hasnt got the money to increase the salary cap and loads of clubs are already complaining that they need more money to even survive. The Super League wars and the way that news corporation basically own the game and can get TV rights for far less than they are worth is holding the game back. Until this situation is sorted out and League can get the TV deal that it deserves, which should be at least comparable to AFL (Before the Super League wars it was always more but since as been far less) then they will not be able to become a nationwide game and fight Union raids like this, or the AFL for that matter. RL in Australia need a new TV deal and complete ownership of the game in Australia before things can improve.

It is not like Gasnier or SBW have gone to Union for the international game, which is what Union fans always claim that Union has over League. They will not be picked for their countries whilst playing in France. They have gone for huge money and there is very little that League can do in the short term. Even Union players from the Southern hemisphere and the British Isles are going to France, and abondoning the chance of playing for their countries, for the huge amounts of money on offer. The Rugby Union clubs in France are largely propped up by sugar daddies in charge of the clubs which are seen as prestige symbols, a little like premier league football here. Crowds in general are small and it is these sugar daddies that are funding these huge wages.

The new manager of SBW, Khoder Nasser (who also manages former NRL player turned boxer Anthony Mundine), does not get a penny of SBW's current contract. In fact he is not even an accredited agent with the NRL.

However if SBW signs a contract with a French RU club, new agent Khoder Nasser pockets his commission from the massive new contract.

Very interesting.

Toulon would still have to buy out SBW's contract and give the Bulldogs a fee to purchase a replacement.

Say he is on $200,000 AUSD (I know he's not) that's $1million plus the fee to bring in a replacement.

He is worth it, but he still shouldn't retire after only playing 70 games in the NRL and 7 for the Kiwis.

Warrington

ha ha, the Aussies are burning effigies of the scum bag! Walked out on his team, his fans and his country. You could say he isn't very popular here at the moment!

It is all the doing of his new manager who gets nothing out of his current 5 yr deal yet stands to make a fortune if SBW signs with French RU. I doubt the Bulldogs can stop him breaking his contract and playing in France but I reckon they will try and sue the ar5e of him!

He's a prize pric$.

I just wish someone from the Bulldogs or the NRL would come out and say it.

For a guy who is the highest paid player in the NRL to act in such a manner simply for a bit more money is digraceful and says far more about Williams as a person than it does about the strength of the respective codes.

League should just make it as minor an issue as it is. He's a money grabbing weasel who would sell his grandma for a fiver. They should come out and verbally give him both barrels in the press. And the thing is, he will be replaced next year by another young player.

Hopefully the Bulldogs will take him to the cleaners for breach of contract and the NRL will refuse to ever register him again in the NRL. Maybe the RFL should show some solidarity and say the same. That leaves him to play RU the rest of his life, more than a justified punishment I'd say!

ps this isn't about him going to play Union, it's about him walking out without telling the club despite having 4 years left on his contract.

I don't think League should take that line at all. They should sue him personally for breach of contract, but they shouldn't impose blanket bans like Union used to.

Let the grub go I say, league doesn't need him.

Well at least he probably won't be playing for the Kiwis in the World Cup.

He wouldn't have done so anyway as there is no money in it for him. He'd have been injured anyway.

I'll give you a £20 bet that Williams plays in the French first division next season

It is not the imaginary club, "Tolouse," nor even the real club Toulouse, but rather the real club Toulon, which is to be promoted to 1st division next year.

Once the Canterbury Bulldogs lawyers start their injunctions in France and the UK, the louse SBW has it all to lose.

All the money troubles and wanting to leave started after Mundine convinced him to take on Nasser as manager.

Picky git Toulouse or Toulon stll french

Agree 100%. Would the dogs be interested in Paul Cooke?

Fair play to him
Id have taken the money aswell, not like he cant't come back after his French RU contract is over i mean he will still be young enough

Just wondering what position he will play in RU

It's slavery trying to make him honour his contract.

A contract is a contract you should abide by it !