Was the 23-year-old superstar ever going to dominate a full season, as all the champions have, or did he encounter kryptonite every three or four games or so?

Williams played 73 games from a possible 105 for Canterbury, since making his first-grade debut in 2004, and represented the Kiwis seven times from a possible 27 Tests. Not enough, say those who attended Wests' reunion on Saturday.

Forty years after they retired, footballers still cluster around those who bled for the team, rather than those who set try-scoring and goal-kicking records and earned the most money. Former Magpies hovered around their half and captain Tom Raudonikis not only to listen to his unvarnished views and saucy stories but also because he constantly put his body on the line for the club.

"They're the drawcards," says Ron Massey, rugby league's spiritual head and guardian of the flame. "Players like Tommy, [Parramatta's] Bob O'Reilly and [Roosters'] Bunny Reilly are the sort of people they gravitate to. These are the players who meant so much to the team. They're the ones who were there for them when they went into battle.

"In 20 years' time, players will be bees around the honeypot of [Storm's] Dallas Johnson, [Raiders'] Alan Tongue, [Sea Eagles'] Steve Menzies and [Roosters'] Craig Fitzgibbon."

Massey, the long-term assistant to coach of the century Jack Gibson, points out that this self-sacrificial, hard-working quartet play the same position as Sonny Bill. "They're worth twice as much value as Williams," he said of the four second-rowers. "Where's his loss going to be?

"I'm sick of hearing we can't let him go. When John Raper retired, along came Ron Coote, then Ray Price, Wayne Pearce, Bradley Clyde and Ben Kennedy. Sonny Bill has great skills but there is more to it than that in rugby league."

Massey argues that Williams committed the code's cardinal sin by abandoning his teammates, particularly at a time the Bulldogs - desperate to avoid the wooden spoon - needed him most.

"It wasn't so many years ago, your teammates and coach meant more than your family," Massey said. "Maybe that was showing too much loyalty but that's the way it was.

"But today, young people don't respect authority, or their teammates, and it's sad many of them won't be mates in 10 years' time. The concern to me is not Sonny Bill going but that young people are selfish. Most clubs find players a little selfish."

Yet misplaced mateship can cause financial hardship.

Collingwood players Heath Shaw and Alan Didak were involved in a car accident early Monday after drinking at a suburban hotel in Melbourne.

Didak, the player who was a passenger last year in a car driven by Melbourne CBD gunman Christopher Hudson, lied to the club by saying he was not in the car driven by Shaw, claiming he was merely a mate who arrived at the scene in answer to a mobile phone call.

Shaw also told club chairman Eddie Macguire and coach Mick Malthouse that Didak wasn't in his car when he crashed into two parked vehicles. Shaw, fined $5000 for driving while drunk, and Didak were yesterday suspended for the rest of the season. It had been speculated that Didak might be sacked.

A case of mateship going awry?

Massey says: "Players have got to realise they must have higher standards than the rest of society. They're in the public eye and have to be always on their guard."

Massey argues that while the world watches the Raiders' board to see how it deals with serial bad boy Todd Carney, we should be following captain Tongue.

"Fair dinkum, he looked like the Phantom of the Opera when he played a game recently with a broken nose and now he's playing with broken ribs," Massey said.

"Bob O'Reilly … if he'd been a horse you would have shot him, yet he was man of the match in the 1981 grand final.

"They're the people you win with. What Sonny Bill did is everything rugby league is not about."