I'm no spring chicken, says SBW as retirement looms
New NRL season should be his last and he also wants more diversity in leadership roles
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Sonny Bill Williams on the ball for the Toronto Wolfpack in February. He left after the Covid-19 crisis forced them to quit England's Super League and he joined his old side Roosters for what is almost certainly his final season.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SYDNEY • Cross-code superstar Sonny Bill Williams says he may finally hang up his boots after his upcoming stint in Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) with the Sydney Roosters.
He is completing quarantine in Sydney before joining the Roosters, an opportunity that arose after the coronavirus pandemic forced his Toronto Wolfpack to quit England's Super League.
The globe-trotting athlete, who has won two Rugby World Cups with the All Blacks and two NRL premierships in Australia during 16 seasons of elite sport, acknowledged that his career was winding down.
Auckland-born Williams said he planned to settle in Sydney long-term with his wife and four children.
"I consider Australia a home even probably more so than New Zealand as far as raising the kids and whatnot," he said.
"I'm a realist. I'm 35, I'm not a spring chicken any more. I reckon I've got maybe one more year max in me."
A devout Muslim with a proud Samoan heritage, Williams has previously said he wants to become involved in charity and helping minorities when his sporting career ends.
He called for more diversity in the NRL, where minorities dominate playing rosters but have comparatively little representation in administration.
Williams urged prominent NRL figure Phil Gould to promote Pacific islanders and Indigenous Australians in his recently announced role as a consultant at the New Zealand Warriors.
"I just try to look at things from a perspective of what's best for my people - Polynesians, Maoris, Aboriginals, the minorities," Williams, whose father is Samoan, told Gould in an interview on Channel Nine late on Monday.
"I'd love to see you take someone under your wing and help us thrive, not just on the field... obviously we're thriving in that sense.
"What I would like to challenge you to do is help us thrive off the field, whether it be coaches, CEOs (chief executive officers) or on the boards, that type of level."
More than half of NRL players have Pasifika, Indigenous Australian or Maori heritage but none of the 18 teams' head coaches have those backgrounds.
The NRL regularly champions its diversity policy and said last year that more than 50 of its staff identified as being of Indigenous Australian heritage, yet few occupy positions in senior management.
Williams played 58 times for the All Blacks, winning World Cups in 2011 and 2015, as well as numerous Bledisloe Cups and Rugby Championships.
Other honours include a Super Rugby title in 2012 and NRL premierships in 2004 with the Bulldogs and in 2013 with the Roosters.
He also represented New Zealand in rugby sevens at the 2016 Olympics and triumphed in all seven of his professional heavyweight boxing bouts, winning the New Zealand title in 2012.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
