Opinion | Sonny Bill Williams can live up to his megabucks Toronto Wolfpack deal – but can English rugby league?
- The All Black’s signing is a huge coup for a code that needed it after years of watching its stars leave for rugby union
- At US$6.4 million, the marquee signing may be bigger than the field he is heading to
They’ll be turning cartwheels in rugby league’s northern English strongholds after Sonny Bill Williams’ move to Super League was confirmed.
The All Black is returning to league by joining Toronto Wolfpack, the Canadian club that gained promotion to the top division last season in only their third year.
Make no mistake, Sonny Bill coming “home” is a very big deal for the 13-man-code, and the fact that Toronto went public early in their pursuit of one of rugby union’s biggest names and weren’t gazumped shows they are already a force.
Backed by a mining magnate, this is the signature mega-signing they promised, even if the entire exercise is as ludicrous as it sounds: clubs in Huddersfield and Hull vying for fairly parochial honours with a transatlantic opponent. We know union and league are obsessed with expansion but, really, what business does Super League have eyeing up Ontario? It’s several steps beyond the NFL’s Wembley fixtures or the Premier League’s mooted “39th game”.
Toronto have indicated they do not want to be the kind of retirement home sometimes created when nascent leagues throw money at fading or plain greedy stars willing to lend their credibility: two eras of soccer in the United States and latterly the Chinese Super League, for instance. The Wolfpack want to be up to standard on the field straight away, so all eyes will be on Williams to show that, at 34, it’s more than a payday. Coming straight from New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup campaign, he ought to be capable of that.