Dylan Cleaver: Chiefs allowing SBW space to have some fun

Sonny Bill Williams finds the Chiefs a good fit. Photo / Getty Images

It is frightening to think of the forests that will be destroyed to produce the pulp and paper needed to speculate on Sonny Bill Williams' future.

Each week that passes adds another Californian redwood to his clippings file: SBW is spotted in a laundromat in Coogee; agent Khoder Nasser receives a papal bull of excommunication from the NRL and is next seen skateboarding down Table Mountain; Sonny Bill shaves his head for charity*.

The only conclusion you can reach is that the future is proving to be an exhausting experience for Williams and his entourage. In the here and now, the All Black boxer seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

Far too much these days is made of team "culture" - winning sides are talented, intelligent teams, not ones who bake communal lasagne - but the Chiefs and the All Black midfielder seem to be a nice marriage.

Canterbury and the Crusaders were the perfect landing spot for Williams on his entree into New Zealand rugby, but there was never the sense that he was having a lot of fun as he went about his assimilation.

Coach Todd Blackadder even had the grace to admit that just as players often thrived at the Crusaders, there were those, like Williams, that stood a better chance of blossoming outside red-and-black borders. Even in the bosom of the All Blacks, the 26-year-old league convert tended to play with a hesitancy that counteracted his natural skills.

In Hamilton, the instructions seem to be simple: don't try to be like Richie, Dan, Ma'a or anybody else you think you should be aping, just be yourself.

The result is a No 12 who is playing with a smile on his face and a Chiefs side that has over-achieved.

There was nothing phenomenal about his work against the Waratahs, just another quality performance in a midfield pairing with Richard Kahui that gives little change to the opposition.

Consistency is now allied to his game breaking.

There will still be times he gets it wrong. Those grubber kicks have an unhappy knack of cannoning straight into the opposition's legs (which fortuitously resulted in a try to Sona Taumalolo on Saturday), and he's still prone to the odd bad read on defence.

Mainly, though, he's become a damn good, week-in, week-out footy player.

And that's only going to increase the speculation around him.

But we must dash. SBW's just been seen reading a copy of L'Equipe in a cafe near the Sacre-Coeur.

*One of those is actually true.