There is no doubt that Sonny Bill Williams is an amazing footballer.
He basically has it all, the size, the speed, the athleticism. He puts on brutal hits in defense and can rip a game open in attack.
Some would even say he was a good looking bloke to go with it, Roosters fans mostly.
But after claiming his goal is to be the captain of the Bulldogs one day, I wonder whether or not thats really the best thing for him.
Williams is loyal to the club thats for sure. He signed a five year contract extension to stay at the Dogs last year, urged on by fellowBulldogs players, some of whom very quickly left the club afterwards like Willie Mason and Mark O’Meley.
He is the clubs best player by some margin and one of the most marketable in the game.
He is already a leader even at his young age. He has a presence about him and he can lift a team through his actions on the field.
We have all seen him get the Bulldogs or even the New Zealand Test team going with a big hit, a hard run and lots of hard work.
However being the captain of an NRL clubs means that you have certain on and off field standards to live up to, and I’m not saying Sonny Bill cant live up to them, I’m wondering if he really wants to be held up to them standards at this stage of his career and at this age.
He already knows that the media gets on his case quickly when it comes to off field incidents. That would only get worse should he become the captain of the Bulldogs.
Then, with all the turmoil going on at board level at the club, he would have a certain responsibility to stand solid no matter what was going on around him.
On top of all that, as captain he would be under more scrutiny on the field as well. At the moment he can be a leader and everyone enjoys that. But as captain you are expected to be a leader no matter how form or injury is treating you.
In other words, people will be less tolerant of injuries if their captain is missing a number of games through them.
I really think at this stage of his career, Sonny Bill is best to leave the captaincy to others. He just doesn’t need that extra pressure at the moment.
