Sonny Bill Williams has bowed to legal pressure and withdrawn from the Toulon team for a pre-season friendly match yesterday, as his new French club prepares to offer a financial settlement to the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs and the NRL successfully sought an injunction against their star walkout which could have seen Williams jailed if he again played for Toulon, the club he sensationally abandoned the Bulldogs for three weeks ago.
Toulon pulled Williams out of their starting lineup for the friendly match against reigning champions Toulouse, with the New Zealand international instead watching the game from the stands alongside friend Anthony Mundine.
Toulon’s president Mourad Boudjellal said the club did not want to “inflame the situation”, and was now striving to arrange a settlement similar to a European football-style transfer fee.
“A financial settlement is going to be found at the beginning of next week,’’ Boudjellal told News Limited.
Bulldogs boss Todd Greenberg has stated the need to try to uphold the rest of Williams’s five-year contract with the NRL club, but admitted a financial settlement could put an end to the crisis.
“Potentially down the track that’s where it might head,’’ he told reporters this week.
“I think we’ve got some time to go before we get to that though, I think we’ve got to stick solid with the sanctity of the contract.’’
