1 Off Loading with Sonny Bill Williams by David Riley Third edition 2014 ISBN 978-0-473-27128-2 Text designed and typeset by Bronwen Billinghurst, i-set-type.co.nz Printed in China by Midas Printing International Limited © 2014 David Riley No part of this book may be reproduced by any process without the prior written permission of the copyright holders, apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review. O f f L o a d i n g with Sonny Bill Williams By David Riley 3 Image courtesy of Rugby League Week. 4 Welcome back Time: 11:30am Date: 28 October 2014 Place: Eden Park. Auckland, New Zealand. The All Blacks have just finished a morning training session. The All Blacks coach Steve Hansen meets with new recruit, Sonny Bill Williams. ‘It’s good to see you back in rugby, Sonny,’ Steve says. ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘It’s awesome being back,’ Sonny replies. ‘I forgot how professional and demanding it is. It’s really refreshing.’ ‘I think you really love rugby,’ Steve says. ‘It gives you that freedom to really express yourself.’ ‘I can’t wait to get into it,’ Sonny says. ‘I’ve been watching a lot of rugby to make sure I keep learning. ’ Sonny reaches into his bag and takes out a brand new exercise book in which he’s written his goals: 1. Work hard on the little things. 2. Keep it simple. 3. Don’t rush the off loads, they’ll come. ‘I still feel like I’ve got a lot to learn,’ Sonny says. ‘Would you mind if I stayed a little longer after training and asked you some questions? I’d like to learn our team moves and patterns as fast as possible. Can I copy them down in my book?’ Steve looks at his assistant coaches. ‘This is what you call a professional,’ he says with a smile. One week later, it’s the All Blacks vs USA at Soldier Field, Chicago. In his first rugby test match in two years, Sonny breaks six tackles, makes three line breaks and scores two tries as the All Blacks smash the USA 74-6. Man of the Match? Sonny Bill Williams … 5 ‘HE LOVED TO PLAY’ Sonny was born on the 3rd of August 1985, into a rugby league family. His grandfather Bill Woolsey, was one of the toughest league players in Auckland during the 1950s. Sonny’s father John, also played and coached rugby league. The first team Sonny played for was Marist Saints under 7s. ‘I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t thinking about league growing up,’ Sonny says. ‘I was a Canberra fan. I liked Mal Meninga, Ruben Wiki and Ricky Stuart. And when the Warriors came into the comp, I became a Warriors supporter.’ Respected rugby league coach, John Ackland, remembers watching Sonny play league for Owairaka District School. ‘One thing stood out – he loved to play,’ John says. ‘He was in the game the whole time and wasn’t put off by mistakes or getting tackled hard. It’s what you see in anyone who’s good at something – they love it.’ Sonny tried a variety of sports as he was growing up. He was well known at the Roskill South Athletics Club where he sprinted, ran long distance, threw discus and even held an Auckland high jump record! ‘Sport was the best way we thought to keep them off the streets,’ said Sonny’s father, John. He would make his sons run around the local mountain to help improve their fitness. ‘I want you to try and beat your older brother!’ he would tell Sonny. One day Sonny found a secret shortcut and arrived back first, to the praise of his dad and confusion of his brother. Sonny continued to excel in sports as he grew. He played all his club rugby league for Marist Saints and starred in a number of junior grand finals and made several Auckland teams. At Wesley Intermediate, rugby coach Trevor Ball, asked him to play for the school rugby team. ‘Mr B, you know I hate rugby, I’ll never play rugby!’ Sonny answered. ‘Okay, I’ll do you a deal,’ Trevor responded, not willing to take ‘no’ for an answer. ‘You play for my rugby team and when the season finishes, we’ll start a league team.’ A timely visit by the All Blacks encouraged Sonny that rugby might be worth a try. He listened intently as Eroni Clarke, a Samoan like him, spoke about how amazing it was to be in the All Blacks. Sonny decided to give rugby a try and ended up making the Auckland Central Schools team, as halfback! When the rugby season ended, Sonny reminded his coach about the promise he had made to start a league team. Sonny helped guide his team all the way to the final of the schools rugby league competition. 6 Wesley Intermediate vs Viscount School Auckland Rugby League Intermediate Schools Final 1998 There are 5 minutes left in the game and the scores are tied. Sonny injures his ankle, limps dejectedly off the field and collapses. ‘It’s swollen! I don’t know if I can play anymore,’ Sonny wails. Wesley’s coach, Trevor Ball, inspects the ankle. ‘I thought you told me you wanted to win the Auckland Champs,’ he says. ‘I do!’ ‘Well you won’t do it sitting here on the sideline!’ Sonny limps back on to the field, and sets up two tries. ‘That’s what it takes to be a champion,’ Trevor says after the game. Sonny nods, high fiving his coach. Wesley Intermediate are 1998 Auckland Champs! The New Zealand Barbarians visit Sonny’s school, Owairaka Primary, in 1996. Sir John Kirwan is in the back row, second from left. Sonny is in the centre of the middle row, holding the sign. Photo courtesy of Trevor Ball DID YOU KNOW? Interesting events in 1985, the year Sonny was born:  WrestleMania 1. Hulk Hogan and Mr T defeat Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff in the main event.  Release of the hit song, ‘We Are the World’.  Symbolics.com is the first dot com name registered.  Michael J. Fox stars in ‘Back to the Future’. 7 ‘SHOOTING UP’ After leaving Wesley Intermediate, Sonny moved to Mount Albert Grammar School in central Auckland. MAGS is one of the most famous schools in New Zealand – their motto is “Per Angusta Ad Augusta”, which means, “Through Trials to Triumph.” MAGS has an outstanding history of achievers who have fought through trials to become successful in life. They include such people as Sir Woolf Fisher – the co-founder of Fisher & Paykel; Olympic gold medallist Sir Peter Snell; and six time Muay Thai World Champion, Ray Sefo. MAGS is especially renowned for the number of All Blacks they have produced, including the great Bryan Williams, World Cup winner Joe Stanley and current All Black Steven Luatua. Sonny attended MAGS from 1999 to 2001. Like many young people that age, Sonny was looking for direction, wondering what path to take in life. All he knew for sure, was that he loved rugby league! ‘League was always in the front seat of my car, school books were in the back seat,’ he says. It was about this time that his body started to change dramatically. ‘I went through a stage where I shot up and got real tall!’ Sonny says. It’s a lunchtime on the field at MAGS in 2001. Sonny and friends are playing ‘held’ [a form of rugby league]. Three or four students crash into Sonny. It has no effect – he’s too strong, too tall . He holds the ball in one hand, looks one way, offloads the other way through the mass of arms and legs. MAGS’ first fifteen coach is watching this from his office. ‘Who’s that tall kid with the mop of hair?’ he asks his assistant. ‘Sonny something.’ Later that day, Sonny is called out of Maths to a meeting with the coach. ‘We have a great rugby tradition here at MAGS,’coach tells him. ‘And we believe you can help us get back to the top of school rugby.’ Sonny looks around the walls of the coach’s office. Photos of legendary players and teams look down on him and seem to say, “Do it for MAGS.” But no one can persuade him to give up the game he loves. ‘Sorry sir, but I really don’t enjoy rugby,’ Sonny explains. ‘My mates and I always follow league, I like the one-on-one stuff. And to be honest … I hate getting rucked!’ 8 Mt Albert Grammar School First XIII 2001. Sonny is sitting front centre. Thomas Leuluai front row, far left. Steve Matai middle row, second from right. Photo courtesy of Brian Murphy [MAGS] Sonny captained the school’s First 13 rugby league team, as a year 11 student! That was an amazing achievement for such a young person. And in 2001, he made the Junior Kiwis league team. It seemed his future path was becoming clearer … DID YOU KNOW? Three players from the 2001 Mount Albert Grammar School First 13 became Kiwis:  Thomas Leuluai  Steve Matai  Sonny Bill Williams 9 ‘BOOM! BANG!’ At the end of a rugby league season, players often look for other sports to play, like touch football and tag. Others want something more physical. Something like … American Football. ‘Gridiron’ is the perfect summer sport for young men who like to mix skilful, ball playing athleticism with crunching, hitting and pounding! Sonny’s good friend Sam Pilisi, was a member of the Metro Lions Junior American Football team. In the school summer holidays he invited Sonny to try out too. ‘He ended up being better than the rest of us!’ Sam laughs. ‘Sonny was really strong for his size. He had heaps of raw strength, a good heart and was always competitive.’ Metro Coach Eugene Meredith, remembers the first time Sonny came to training. ‘He was a tall, skinny young boy you didn’t think much of,’ Eugene recalls. ‘We played him as a Free Safety because we thought it was the position that best suited him. A Free Safety has to be a good tackler and fast.’ ‘In his first game, we just told him where to stand. He ended up making all the tackles! Anyone that got through: Boom! Bang! He knocked them over. We were like, “This kid’s got skills!” He had no fear and all you could say was … “WHOA!”’ But it’s not only Sonny’s incredible talent Eugene remembers. He was also impressed by how modest Sonny was, how willing to learn. ‘He was very polite and humble. He always asked questions, was always striving to be better and critiquing himself.’ Eugene believes Sonny could have gone further in American Football if he had wanted to. But Sonny’s mother had different ideas! ‘One day Sonny came to me and said, “Sorry Coach, my mum told me I can’t play,”’ recalls Eugene. ‘So I said, “Okay, you have to respect your parents.” She could see he had potential and didn’t want him to get hurt. She knew he might have a pathway in rugby league.’ Someone else was watching out for Sonny too. And he was about to show Sonny and his family a path that would change their lives forever! 10