Adam SutcliffeSonny Bill Williams Bulldogs pain in 2008
March 19th 2008 03:49
The presence alone of Sonny Bill Williams is widely known to be extremely important to the Bulldogs in the NRL Premiership.
In 2008 the Bulldogs are without the services of Willie Mason and Mark OMeley and natrually the pressure falls more and more on Sonny Bill Williams and his ability to break a Rugby League game wide open.
Adding to the pressure, is the fact that the coach of the Dogs - Steve Folkes remains the centre of contract talk as the club is rumoured to be willing to push him out the door to get a new coach such as Wayne Bennett on board to help the club get back into the winners circles and start posting positive NRL Results.
The part that SBW plays in this Dogs side was quickly seen in Round 1 of the NRL 2008 season. Up against the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium (Formerly Telstra Stadium) at Homebush, the Bulldogs were on fire.
Sonny Bill Williams was the architect of the on-slaught, he was cutting through the defence line and giving Eels players headaches all over the Rugby League field. The Dogs quickly raced to a 20-0 lead over the Eels as both teams went into the dressing sheds.
Surely Steve Folkes must have felt a relieved man, he had the Bulldogs playing a much more exciting brand of football and they suddenly had depth and options in their attacking formations.
After halftime, everything changed.
Sonny Bill Williams went down with a knee injury and suddenly his team lost their spark and the Eels felt they could overpower their opposition and began to claw back the lead.
So critical to his own team and the mindset of opponents, SBW has almost got to Andrew Johns levels were opposing NRL teams simply lose confidence with his presence.
Lets hope the boys from Belmore don't get anymore bad news as SBW struggles to remain fit and poor Steve Folkes has trouble sleeping at night.
All this means Rugby League is back in town, and each weekend all of us will be clammering to catch a sight of League or ensure we get live updates, results and scores as they come in. (You'd better get your sister Marge to postpone her wedding, you don't want to miss a game do you?)
Good Luck to your side in 2008, we hope they make the Top 8 at seasons end.
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