New Zealand rugby league international forward Sonny Bill Williams has abruptly left his NRL club Canterbury to switch codes and play for French side Toulon, his club said on Saturday.
Media reports said Williams walked out on his five-year deal with the Bulldogs to fly to France, where he is to sign for Toulon for a reported €1.8million over two years.
Williams, 22, one of the highest profile players of Australia's National Rugby League and capped six times for the Kiwis, had been contracted to the Bulldogs until 2012 for an estimated €275,000 a year.
‘I've just got off the phone to Sonny's manager, Khoder Nasser, and he has confirmed to me that Sonny has left the country,’ Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said Saturday.
‘Quite simply, if Sonny intends to play overseas, we'll be looking to take out an injunction which will effectively stop him playing in France, England or anywhere else he intends to do it.’
Asked whether the issue was likely to end up in the courts, Greenberg said: ‘I suggest at this early stage that you are probably right, but we are going to have to review all our options to make sure that the Bulldogs are well covered.’
NRL chief executive David Gallop said the backrower's walkout was ‘unacceptable.’
‘It is unacceptable to walk out on a contract,’ Gallop said in a statement.
‘If Sonny Bill Williams has personal issues we will be happy to discuss them with him but we will support the Bulldogs in enforcing their contract and that includes preventing him from playing other than under that contract.
‘Certainly the club, his teammates and the fans are entitled to some explanation for what has happened.’
The New Zealand international's sudden exit comes after reports that he had been at loggerheads with the Bulldogs, claiming he was worth more money.
His departure comes after St George Illawarra Test centre Mark Gasnier this month signed a deal with Parisian rugby club Stade Francais worth an estimated €1.2m over two years.
