SONNY Bill Williams, who is set to become the second highest paid rugby union player in the world, has been subpoenaed to appear in the NSW Supreme Court court next Tuesday in the first step towards a possible injunction preventing the Bulldogs superstar walking out.
However, as the National Rugby League and the Bulldogs vowed to pursue Sonny Bill Williams through the courts for what they claim is breach of a "watertight" contract the player himself has already prepared his own defence. Typical of his rugged play it is a full frontal attack on the NRL's salary cap, in which he will argue is an unreasonable restraint of trade.
"The injunction will seek to restrain him from training or playing other than in accordance with the Bulldogs contract," NRL chief executive David Gallop said yesterday. "The consequences of breaching an injunction when put in place are that he is liable to contempt-of-court proceedings that can involve everything from arrest to seizure of assets."
But some of the country's top employment lawyers yesterday said a court is highly unlikely to prevent Williams from accepting an offer to play rugby union for Toulon.
"The courts will not make an order saying he has to play for the Bulldogs because he may turn up and play poorly," Professor Mark Davison, an employment law specialist at Monash University in Melbourne, said. "The court would not order it because the court could not supervise his performance."
Before Williams, who was in London last night because of visa difficulties preventing him moving on to France, fled the Bulldogs last Saturday, a leading Sydney barrister prepared a legal strategy to challenge the salary cap, which sets a ceiling of the total amount clubs can pay their players. If Williams, 22, was successful the case would represent a nightmare for Australia's four football codes which all rely on caps.
As the Bulldogs and the NRL continue to reel from his shock departure for France, The Age can reveal that 22-year-old's two-year deal with the Tana Umaga-coached Toulon is worth more than $1.5 million a season.
With no player in either the NRL or Super League earning anywhere near the type of money offered to Williams, only All Blacks five-eighth Dan Carter, who Williams may eventually play outside at Test level, is thought to earn more in rugby union after becoming the first New Zealand player given dispensation for a six-month stint for Perpignan in the upcoming season.
Meanwhile, player manager Steve Gillis warned that several more NRL stars were on the verge of leaving the game. "They're looking for our very best players. They'll knock them off one by one," he said.
"I think you'll find if there's four or five this year. There'll be 10 next year, probably 20 or 30 the next year.
Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who had been unsuccessful in luring Williams to his English club, Saracens, yesterday said the runaway Bulldog would become one of the most successful centres in international rugby, and the best of all the recent rugby league defectors.
"When you look at the players who have come across from rugby league in recent years — Andrew Walker, Mat Rogers, Wendell Sailor and Lote (Tuqiri) — I think (Williams) will be a cut above," Jones said.
with AAP
