"LE TERRIBLE" Sonny Bill Williams was lost to rugby league long before he penned a "most complicated" deal with Toulon rugby, the club's owner Mourad Boudjellal said yesterday.
As Toulon pumped up their first trial game of the year by urging fans to come and see "le terrible Sonny Bill", Boudjellal said Williams had experienced all he wanted to in league and would have joined another 15-man team had he not been snapped by the southern French club.
"I understand the Bulldogs' disappointment but if he wasn't playing with Toulon he would have joined another rugby team, for example Saracens," Boudjellal said on the club's website last night. "He plans to stay in rugby. If we didn't feel that he was highly motivated to play rugby we would not have started negotiations with him.
"He had seen everything in rugby league. He wants to try a new adventure with rugby, it is his choice. [His deal] is not worth the exorbitant amounts that have been claimed, it is a sporting choice."
Boudjellal also admitted that he was well aware of the media storm Williams's signing would create. "This transfer was most complicated to realise because we knew that the news in the media would be enormous," he said.
Williams trained with his new teammates for the first time yesterday and is due to play his first professional rugby match on Friday (Saturday morning Sydney time) against the newly promoted division one side Carqueiranne-Hyeres.
Williams, 23, asked a lot of questions during yesterday's session and trained at inside-centre - the position he is expected to play on Friday and pursue as his long-term option in rugby. Following ball-work drills Williams was taken to a corner of the field by three of his teammates and shown how to lay the ball back once on the deck, given he has spent the past 10 years getting up and playing it under his foot. Boudjellal told fans that Williams would be a huge success with his code switch, describing him as an unrivalled talent in league.
"When I saw the transfer of [Mark] Gasnier to [Stade Francais] and people spoke about him like he was the star, that amused me, because in France we have a real ignorance of rugby league, because Sonny Bill Williams is the uncontested star," Boudjellal said.
Williams will talk about his decision to walk out on the Bulldogs in a television interview tonight, and the Herald understands he has criticised his former coach Steve Folkes about a perceived lack of communication and respect.
The Bulldogs and the NRL head to court tomorrow seeking a last-minute injunction preventing Williams playing for Toulon. Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said Williams would face massive repercussions if an injunction were granted and he played anyway.
"If he decided to defy an injunction ordered by a judge in the NSW Supreme Court he would certainly face some serious penalties, and that includes the freezing of any assets he may have here in Australia," Greenberg said. "[Williams and his management] have been served subpoenas so we're just waiting to get into court."
Williams was contracted to the Dogs until 2012 but boarded a plane to France without telling them two weeks ago, and he has since signed with Toulon for one year, with a second-year option.
Williams has expressed a desire to play for the All Blacks at the 2011 World Cup. To be considered, he would have to secure an NZRU contract, which means he'd have to play in New Zealand, by the start of that year at the latest.