http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,24138705-5006066,00.html
Sonny Bill Williams reveals why he quit
By Paul Kent, Chief Sports Writer | August 07, 2008 12:00am
TWELVE days after fleeing the country, Sonny Bill Williams has finally spoken.
Williams tells The Footy Show tonight that he had long been unhappy at the Bulldogs and that his life outside football is only now becoming settled.
Williams also reveals a troubled soul and a portrait of a man under the spell of manager Khoder Nasser and boxer Anthony Mundine.
One of the final straws was when Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes approached him at training earlier this year about newspaper reports he was becoming a Muslim.
"I rock up to training and Folkesy, Steve Folkes, someone that, to be honest, has never paid any interest in my personal life, he comes up to me and starts saying, 'You're not turning Muslim are you?' " Williams says. "I just laughed. I said, 'Seriously, you're joking', and then he has a go at Anthony: 'You're kidding yourself if you're taking advice off him.' "
Williams said it was only later that the comment irked him.
"I start to think, 'Who is he to question my friends?' "
Folkes last night took umbrage at Williams's suggestion, dismissing it totally.
"If you asked Hazem (El Masri) about how I perceive Muslims, you'll find I've often asked him questions about the religion because I don't fully understand it," he said.
"If something comes up that I heard, I ask him."
As for claims he took no personal interest in Williams, again they were heavily disputed.
"It's certainly not right of him to say that we took no interest in his home life or personal life," Folkes said.
"I supported him through the Clovelly Hotel thing (when he was caught allegedly having sex in the toilets with ironwoman Candice Falzon), his drink-driving thing, through his urinating in public thing.
"We stood up for him and did our best to try and get him through that so I think it is a pretty naive statement to make."
Folkes is adamant that his problem was not with Williams but the people he was associating with - and the skewed advice they were offering.
He believes their influence finally put Williams in a state of mind where he found it easy to walk out on his club and teammates.
More, he believes his advice has since turned out to be prudent, given Mundine's influence.
"In light of what has happened, my advice about him not putting too much credence into what Anthony Mundine says was probably good advice," he said.
It must be remembered: Mundine also walked out on his teammates midway through a season.
Still, Williams claims Folkes had no right to question his friends and that the comments upset him.
"Who is he to come and question my friends and their values and their religion?" he said.
"Who does he think he is? Does he think he is God? Is he God or something?
"Yeah, whatever comes out of his mouth, is that right?"
Williams also confirmed that Nasser is his manager despite Nasser's comical denials, designed to defend himself against allegations that he induced Williams to break his contract.
"When I did join up with Khoder and asked Khoder to manage me . . ." he says at one point.
The troubled Williams claimed he was unhappy at the Bulldogs for some time, and that his unhappiness was why he walked out on the club.
Aside from the tensions between him and Folkes, though, he does not reveal exactly what unsettled him or why he felt his only option was to leave.
Other than if it was money.
Williams has already said he believed he was being underpaid at $500,000 a year.
"Obviously to do something like that (leave), I wasn't happy," he said.
"I haven't been happy at the Dogs for a while.
"Nothing to do with the players, I love my close mates, but a whole range of things."
Once again, the statement and Williams' state of mind confuse the Bulldogs.
"It wasn't that long ago that he signed a five-year deal, so I assumed to commit to somewhere for five years he was happy to commit to that," Folkes said.
"I know Sonny has been going around crying poormouth about only earning $500,000 a year; can't survive on that.
"I don't know if it is just this generation, whether it is young footballers or Generation Y in general, but they expect everything and don't want to cough up for it.
"They expect that everything is going to be given to them on a platter and the fact he can't survive on $500,000 a year is a bit sad really."
Regardless, Folkes believes Williams' comments now count for little.
"He will do anything now to try and justify this decision, regardless," Folkes said.
"It is indefensible.
"I was in the room last year when he agreed, shook hands and signed a deal to stay with us five years.
"So regardless of what he says now, it's all p . . . . . . in the wind, really."
