SONNY SIDE UP
Williams set to return to action
SONNY BILL WILLIAMS will feature for winless Toronto at Warrington on Friday.
But there are fears James Cunningham’s season could be over, meaning their threadbare squad is exposed.
Coach Brian McDermott was down to his last 17 fit players when Jon Wilkin pulled out of last Thursday’s defeat to Wigan in the warm-up – and Cunningham then damaged his hamstring in the opening stages.
Director of rugby Brian Noble confirmed the injury could rule the hooker out for six months, stretching the expansion club’s resources.
Noble said: “James has been with the surgeon and that tells me it could be six months rather than six weeks.
“It looks like it’s going to be a long time – it could be the season and we’re not flush with players.”
Kiwi star Williams landed back in the country on Monday after returning to New Zealand for the birth of his son Essa.
Wilkin should be fit to face the Wolves and prop Gadwin Springer is also expected to be available following a concussion protocol.
But Joe Mellor and Darcy Lussick remain sidelined with medium-term injuries and Chase Stanley is still waiting on a new visa to return to McDermott’s squad.
Because the Wolfpack have spent up to Super League’s salary cap they are unable to sign replacements, outside of the exemption given to them for forward Quinn Ngawati.
Noble has not ruled out calling on League One dual-registration partners Rochdale in an emergency and has defended the Wolfpack from criticism over its salary cap management.
Noble said: “Anybody can look at it and say, ‘They shouldn’t have signed x, y or z.’
“But as an expansion club we wanted to excite new people, excite Super League and Toronto, develop a winning philosophy and provide the sport with moments in the media. To attract players here you have to pay an extra levy – it’s the same issue that London had.
“You have to pay overs of 10 to 15 per cent more than a domesticallybased club, because you have to convince players to come on a journey and have that unknown factor.
“The sport needs to develop a strategy to help expansion clubs and I include those within the UK in that.
“We need to find some common ground where decisions are made for the good of the game overall and that isn’t happening at the moment.”