SONNY BILL WILLIAMS is set to become the second highest paid rugby union player in the world - despite never before having played the code.
As the NRL and Bulldogs continue to reel from his shock departure for France, the Herald can reveal that Williams's two-year deal with the Tana Umaga-coached Toulon is worth more than $1.5 million per season.
Only All Blacks five-eighth Dan Carter, who Williams could eventually play outside at Test level, is thought to earn more in rugby union after becoming the first New Zealand player given dispensation for a six-month stint in France's big-spending Top 14 competition, where he will line up for Perpignan in the upcoming season.
No player in either the NRL or English Super League earns anywhere near the type of money offered to Williams.
But money alone isn't the reason the 22-year-old Kiwis superstar walked out on the $2 million, five-year deal he signed with the Bulldogs last season.
Williams has been making noises almost ever since about his unhappiness, but there was little response from the club or the NRL.
When asked if more money would satisfy Williams, the response was "no".
In any case, the Bulldogs and the NRL repeatedly said he had signed until the end of the 2012 season and they were not in the habit of rewriting the terms and conditions of contracts.
The Bulldogs acknowledged that playing issues, such as the level of respect and input their best player was given, could have been handled better and attempts appeared to have been made to improve relationships with Williams.
But for all intents and purposes, Williams was told that if he didn't like the deal then too bad. Unlike other employees, professional sports stars are bonded to their clubs - unless, as in the case of Josh Hannay or Kirk Reynoldson, the club no longer wants them.
An exception was Willie Mason, who forced the Bulldogs into granting him a release during the last off-season to join Sydney Roosters after being refused permission by the club to take part in a charity boxing match.
That decision appears to have signalled the beginning of the end in Williams's relationship with the Bulldogs and after being advised by Mason to stay loyal to the club when he was weighing up his future, he said he had lost respect for his former back-row partner.
When told the club would block any attempt by him also to leave, Williams realised there was no longer any point in expressing his disillusionment.
Instead, he simply travelled to Sydney Airport on Saturday and boarded a plane en route for France - telling only a select few friends and teammates of his plan.
To have told anyone else only risked dragging them into the firestorm that has developed since an Australian Customs officer allegedly emailed a Sydney radio station to inform it Williams had just left the country, and also provided details of the star's itinerary.
Williams was also taken aside and questioned about his intentions, with the information - including his reply that he would be back in six months - also passed on to the radio station.
Had the Bulldogs discovered his plan any earlier, they could have gone to court and sought an injunction to prevent him from taking up the offer from Toulon as they and the NRL are now seeking to do.
Attempts to make teammates understand how he felt would also have been met with pleas for him to stay.
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