England ace George Williams hopes this is the year Super League reminds the NRL that there is more than one elite club competition in world rugby league.
The Warrington halfback dazzled in Australia before requesting his release from Canberra last summer during his second season with the Raiders. He opted to join the Wolves despite boyhood club Wigan having agreed first option on re-signing the player.
And ahead of his first full season with Warrington, the 27-year-old believes the British game can shine in World Cup year and firmly put the sport on the global map.
“Definitely, 100 per cent, and I think the players who have come from the NRL this year to Super League just shows what the strength of the competition can be,” he told The Sportsman.
“I’m more excited than ever about Super League. We are branching out to different things and the game has got everything it needs to do that. The NRL is obviously a lot bigger but I hope that Super League can get there.
“Super League has everything it needs so we just have to deliver on the pitch and hopefully we can bring in a new audience.”
Williams will form an exciting Warrington halfback partnership with Gareth Widdop, another Englishman to star in the NRL, and admits he is feeling wanted again as a player following a barrage of negative publicity in the Australian media when his Canberra exit turned ugly.
“I was overwhelmed with the welcome from Warrington. I got a bit of hatred in Australia so it was nice to get a bit of love here. I feel involved and that we are building something good. Winning a Grand Final is the priority.
“I still speaks to the boys at Canberra regularly as you build friendships and memories. I don’t speak to any of the staff and I don’t speak to Ricky (Stuart) or the CEOs but that’s just how it ended. No bad feelings.”
Despite his optimism that the British game can fight back and recover some ground on a southern-hemisphere product that has flourished under the financial backing of multiple television deals, Williams admits Super League remains some way off.
“I’m not too sure (how far we are behind them). They’re obviously getting bigger and bigger every year and I think they have four or five TV deals which is probably the difference. But we are branching out so hopefully we can catch up and see rugby league as big in England as it is in Australia.”
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