Daryl Powell: Give Sonny Bill Williams time to bed in
Castleford coach Daryl Powell has warned rugby league fans not to judge Sonny Bill Williams too early.
The dual-code New Zealand made his Toronto debut in their 28-10 defeat to Castleford on Sunday afternoon.
And Powell is predicting great things from the former Sydney Roosters and Canterbury Bulldogs back-rower.
Powell said: “He’ll get better. He passed the ball a lot.
“Obviously he’s an offload threat but he hasn’t played rugby league for five years so it will take him time to bed in.
“And from what I’ve seen of him he’s a good guy and has brought a lot to the game in terms of column inches. He’ll bed in and he’ll be great.”
Tries from Greg Eden, Michael Shenton, Peter Mata’utia, Grant Millington and Adam Milner inspired the Tigers to an impressive victory in the opening round of the new season.
Powell added: “Some of the individual performances pleased me most.
“Collectively we did some smart things but we were never really in a flow in the game.
“With the tries we gave away – the intercept and they got some bits off our errors. But other than that we’ve got to be pleased with it.”
More on site
Richard Agar: Hull were bigger and better than us
Lee Radford delighted with strength in depth of Hull FC squad
Paper Talk: Salford want Roberts, Toronto to gain dispensation & Catalans eye another Wigan man
Rugby League Today: Wane appointed, Leeds will not panic & Warriors eye Murdoch-Masila