League: Williams the star turn for young and old

1.00pm

She was in the minority - despite the blue and white ribbons in her hair and desire in her eyes.

"I don't care about the line, I just wanna look at 'im," she cried - one Bulldogs chick to another - as the snaking procession seeking a Sonny Bill Williams' scribble extended deep onto the playing surface at a tardy Belmore Oval.

Two hours earlier doe-eyed ladies, some with five-year-olds in tow, had wolf-whistled and professed undying love to the Auckland-born league prodigy.

Men, obviously, were more reticent, content just to marvel at the nonchalant ease with which their 19-year-old hero fielded raking kicks from Braith Anasta.

As the Bulldogs five-eighth, Anasta used to be the Bulldogs main man among the club's female fandom.

Now Anasta, 24, still tugs at the heart strings, and they do worry about his bruised sternum, but heaven knows what would happen if Williams broke as much as a fingernail in the lead-up to Sunday's National Rugby League (NRL) grand final with the Sydney Roosters.

Unknown by most fans before his starring role in the Bulldogs' 48-14 opening-round demolition of Parramatta in March, a month later the utility played for New Zealand in the Anzac test in Newcastle.

He is a certainty for the Kiwis' Tri-Nations team whose first assignment is a trans-Tasman rematch at North Harbour Stadium on October 16.

While his prowess caught supporters by surprise, those within the game have been aware of Williams' potential since he was named the Bulldogs' Jersey Flegg player of the year in 2002. Most agree he is a superstar in the making.

Despite being blighted by a serious ankle injury soon after the Anzac test, Williams' rise has been as meteoric as any experienced by a "next big thing".

The decibel reading when Williams' face is flashed on electronic scoreboards pre-game matches that accorded to departing skipper Steve Price and goalkicker Hazem El Masri - a firm favourite with the Bulldogs' Lebanese fan base.

Even when a drawn out fan day was held at the Canterbury club's spiritual home on Tuesday, the supporters' desire to see Williams could not be sated.

The Bulldogs fraternity are a patient mob - they have after all waited since 1995 for an eighth premiership.

So when the players retreated to their spartan dressing room, only to emerge 90-odd minutes later, most of the 1000-odd fans brushed off the delay.

Chaotic scenes greeted the squad when they finally popped up around the ground, and the masses rushed for a piece of their heroes.

Perhaps after viewing the maelstrom from the sanctuary of the players tunnel, Williams was advised to arrive fashionably late.

However, if the Bulldogs management held their star back thinking their followers may have tired of waiting and leave satisfied with a high-five from cult figure Willie Mason, they grossly miscalculated.

"I'll just die if he doesn't come," worried one anxious teen, craning her neck down the tunnel.

Another stuck like a limpet to a New Zealand television crew, only because they said they were going to interview the most popular Aucklander in Canterbury since .... since forever.

Williams, at 1.91m and a virtually fat-free 102kg, has proven he can look after himself despite playing a sum total of 14 NRL games.

He has the step, the big paws for 'don't argue' fend, and if all else fails he will run through you. Charge at him and a shoulder will stop you like a shot donkey .... yet all those attributes were rendered useless as young and old laid siege.

Of all the Bulldogs, he was the only one requiring assistance from crowd control.

An hour later having signed footballs, jersies, posters, arms and posing for countless photographs, Williams trailed his teammates back to the inner sanctum, seemingly unaffected by all the adulation.

"I get noticed a lot more than I used to but I don't get mobbed walking down the streets," explained Williams, who lives down the road from Belmore with his brother and sister.

"They keep my feet on the ground. I've got a real good family and the boys are all real good mates."

As a cashed-up teenager blessed with God-like status in the Bulldogs' patch of Sydney's inner west, a disaster could be waiting to happen.

Yet, having been tarred by the Bulldogs pre-season sex scandal in Coffs Harbour, Williams now seems comfortable in the public eye.

"I've learnt a lot from the old blokes .... about how to be more professional and not get caught up in the nightlife kind of thing."

Bizarrely, some might say suicidally, the teenager has credited reformed hell-raiser Mason for keeping him on the straight and narrow.

The New Zealand-born battering ram may seem a curious role model for a budding professional.

Mason's misdemeanours are the stuff of legend. Positive drugs tests, breaking team curfews, skipping cab fares, faking autographs ..... the list went on and on.

"Coming back from injury, Willie took me under his wing," Williams revealed.

"I think it's been good for him and I know it's been good for me," said Mason, who is on track for Kangaroos selection.

"I remember when I was coming up, I was the same age as him. I've been through a hell of a lot the last couple of years, so I thought if I can teach him everything -- like with the media and how people can take you for a ride and eat off you -- it might be good.

"I didn't really have anyone. I came up to first grade and I was probably the only one that was my age for a couple of years. It was hard like that. I wish I had someone like that, a mentor."

Although Williams' rise has limited Mason's game time, the 24-year-old revels in the New Zealander's mighty impact off the bench.

"He's such a talented kid and he's got the world at his feet.

"When he comes on, I don't think any other side's got anything like him. I love playing with him and I think he feels the same about me. He's a rock star."

Though accepting of his new star status, Williams admits he can scarcely believe how his maiden NRL season has unfolded.

"I was just ecstatic to be in the full squad at the start of the year.

"My second trial was against St George and Trent Barrett tackled me once and I thought 'Wow that's Trent Barrett'.

"It still hits me today sometimes - training alongside Braith and Willie - that I'm playing NRL. It's been a big year."

Williams has another year of his contract to run at Belmore, but the vultures are sure to circle if he is unsigned after June 30.

Player managers estimate Williams could command A$400,000-500,000 ($433,000-541,900) a year, putting pressure of the Bulldogs' tight purse strings.

There was also speculation the New Zealand Rugby Union was pursuing him, a claim the organisation denied last week.

For his part, Williams said he was not interested anyway.

He may be the Dan Carter of the NRL but that is where comparisons with the All Blacks pin-up boy end.

"I'm just happy playing with the Bulldogs and there's no way I'm going to rugby," he said.

"I've loved rugby league since I was young, I've always dreamed about playing this kind of footy. There's too much kicking in rugby."

Williams allegiance to the 13-man code - and the Kiwis - has given the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) a massive boost in a year to forget for the Warriors.

"We lost (Brisbane fullback) Karmichael Hunt but thankfully Sonny made his intentions very clear from quite early on," said NZRL general manager Peter Cordtz.

"We got criticism for picking him for the (April) Anzac test. (Bulldogs coach) Steve Folkes said he was too early but I think we've been vindicated.

"If we didn't pick him you can guarantee they'd have been talking about him for New South Wales State of Origin, have no doubt whatsoever.".

Unlike Auckland-born Hunt, who is aiming for a Queensland jersey, Williams was actively recruited out of the NZRL junior development system in 2000.

"He's different from a kid whose family emigrated when he was young or before he was born," Cordtz said.

"For us to lose him would have been an absolute tragedy."

Thousands of Bulldogs fans clearly feel the same way.

- NZPA

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