Off the Wall

Some of the reaction to the Sonny Bill Williams issue has been wholly over the top. There needs to be a reality check on what his departure means, and does not mean.

It is a challenge to the player contract system - but only the latest. It may lead to a challenge to the salary cap - but that was probably always going to happen one day.

But some of the radical surgery talked about this week is hard to understand, let alone justify. The wholesale slaughter of Sydney NRL clubs, and a reduced competition, is surely not the answer, for example.

What needs to happen is an extension of the