The National Rugby League’s Grand Final has long served as the closing act of a drama-filled season, but an anti-doping probe and the future of Sonny Bill Williams are set to dog Australia’s scandal-hit competition well into the off-season.
Sunday’s title-deciding showdown between the Sydney Roosters and cross-town rivals Manly has been almost completely overshadowed by speculation that dual code international Williams could be set for another abrupt career change, robbing the league of one of its few good news stories in 2013.
Former All Black Williams, who came back for a second stint in rugby league this year on the strength of a handshake agreement with Roosters chief Nick Politis, has been linked with a return to rugby union and Dave Rennie’s Chiefs in his native New Zealand next season.
Williams has stubbornly kept a vow of silence, however, keeping officials on both sides of the Tasman Sea on tenterhooks.
The bulky 28-year-old famously walked out on the NRL in 2008, tearing up a five-year contract with the Canterbury Bulldogs to play rugby union in France, a move regarded as treachery by Australia’s most parochial football league.
Five years on, all has been forgiven and the NRL is desperate to hold onto the enigmatic playmaker, whose barnstorming runs and outrageous offloads have helped arrest sliding television ratings and keep fans coming through the turnstiles.
“We’re pleased to have him in the game and we want to keep him in the game,” NRL boss Dave Smith told reporters at a league function this week.
“I’m doing everything I can to make that a reality but at the end of the day he’s a very talented young man who’s got choices. I hope he makes the choice to stick with us.”
The loss of Williams would be a painful sting-in-the-tail for a competition seemingly forever lurching from crisis to crisis.
A former British soldier and banker, Smith started the job of Australian sport’s toughest management position in February and within a week was defending the world’s richest rugby league competition against allegations of widespread doping released in a high-level government report.
The NRL provisionally suspended one player in August, Canberra Raiders winger Sandor Earl, for the “use and trafficking” of a banned peptide, but the final results of the national anti-doping agency’s probe may not be released for months, leaving queries over the fates of dozens of interviewed players and officials.
The NRL has also been hit by allegations of player violence towards women and howling referee blunders during the playoffs series that saw a number of officials stood down.
Williams’ retention would offer a rare bright spot for Smith in a turbulent first season in charge, but the player’s silence has already been interpreted as a farewell by Australian pundits.
“He has been exceptional. Everything he’s brought to rugby league that he said he would (and) the hype (that) he was going to bring back to rugby league, he has done 10-fold,” former Australia rugby league representative Matt Adamson told broadcaster Fox Sports.
“I have the gut feeling we are losing (him). It’ll be a crying shame to lose a man of his stature, what he’s given to the game.”
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Company%20profile
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Where can I submit a sample?
Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.
Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:
- Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
- Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
- Al Towayya in Al Ain
- NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
- Bareen International Hospital
- NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
- NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
- NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
