The Serve

Was Sonny Bill soft?

The impact of Sonny Bill Williams was never more evident than Saturday night, when he wasn’t there for the Bulldogs.

In the residue of the Dogs meek exit, the stories about his courage and heartbreak, lies a question Bulldogs fans are asking, albeit quietly.

Is there a possibility Sonny Bill packed it in?

It must be tough being a player that has had so many setbacks, many of them from seemingly harmless incidents. One nondescript hit up against Souths a couple of years ago, in which his knee buckled like a train track in hot weather, a particular stand out.

So when Sonny Bill gets a knock on the arm, naturally the worst can be feared.

But was his knock a match ending injury?

The weekend was bit of a Sonny Bill media love in.

Saturday it was all about his humble nature. His apologies to teammates for putting the club under the spotlight after his various indiscretions.

Sunday morning we read about his heart. How he came on to help his mates in need. A broken arm, dangling like a abattoir carcass, yet he was willing to pitch in.

Dig a little deeper though and it’s not so shiny beyond the surface.

It was revealed that Bulldogs doctor Hugh Hazard didn’t believe Williams’ arm was broken, more likely a bad cork.

Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

The chain of events was quite strange.

Williams left the game immediately, heading straight up the tunnel. The signs were bad. A better sign came immediately after the break, when he returned, sitting on the bench.

And that was it.

No attention to the arm, no massaging.

Just sitting.

The moment where he’d heroically peel off the black coat and re-enter the game and save the world never happened.

Until the final ten minutes.

Ten minutes to go? Why then?

The Bulldogs were being hopelessly outplayed throughout the second half. The game crying for his presence, his spark, his creativity.

So why wait until the final ten minutes, when the score was 13-6 to the bad and the match seemingly gone?

So many questions.

If the arm was toast, why come back at all and risk more serious damage?

If the doctor though thought he was fine, why didn’t he play through the pain?

The one hit up after his return was a disaster. Sonny Bill was straight off again.

With that in mind, tests may well show the arm to be broken, or fractured. If so, this column would be rendered invalid. It would also make Hazard’s initial assessment quite intriguing.

Someone has got it wrong.

However, when Sonny Bill trudged off Telstra Stadium on Saturday Night, there they were - Bulldogs fans, die hard’s, questioning their hero.

Those questions need to be answered, one way or the other.

Footnote: Since this article was published, tests showed Sonny Bill Williams sustained a spiral fracture in the radius (bone in right forearm), which brings into question the original assessment of Hazard, the Bulldogs doctor.