Inside Sonny's decision to stay

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SONNY Bill Williams played the entire NRL finals series at ease with himself, having made a final decision to stay at the Roosters six weeks ago.

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While both rugby codes have contorted themselves in rampant speculation about the dual international's next move, Williams came to the realisation in late August that Bondi Junction was home for 2014.

The only sticking point about staying for another year was the risk of jeopardising his 2015 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympic dreams with New Zealand Rugby Union.

It's believed that concern was allayed at Thursday's Brighton-le-Sands lunch meeting with representatives from the All Blacks and Super 15 franchise Waikato Chiefs, who had offered Williams a mega-rich three-year deal to return home next season.

Sightings of paperwork floating between Williams and his agent, Khoder Nasser, convinced commentators the 28-year-old was certain to defect back to the 15-man code.

It turns out there was much more to the al-fresco gathering than met the eye.

A day earlier, Williams sat in the office of Roosters coach Trent Robinson and promised to give him an answer within the next 48 hours.

With Williams making a belated and controversial call to join the Kiwi World Cup campaign on the same day, the response was likely to be a positive one.

But first he had business to attend to.

After cancelling a planned trip to the US, Williams needed to sit down with NZRU officials and inform them he was staying in rugby league for another season.

A Fox Sports News reporter was tipped-off about the Brighton meeting and summoned a camera crew to the bay side eatery.

The resulting footage carried the obvious implication that Williams was going to rugby, a prospect many at the Roosters feared would transpire should they win this year's grand final.

Witness accounts of Williams putting pen to paper made conclusions of a switch naturally compelling, particularly given Chiefs and All Blacks staffers had crossed the Tasman to personally witness them being signed.

Their contents are now a mystery, with the latest round of speculation suggesting there could be a deal for 2015 onwards or a written guarantee that Williams can still participate in the World Cup and Olympics.

From the Roosters' point of view, the only person aware of all the facts was club chairman Nick Politis.

Persuading Williams to return to rugby league this season on a long-standing handshake agreement was one of Politis's great coups.

Ensuring the relationship continued into 2014 was even better.

As early as February The Sunday Telegraph reported Williams would remain at the Roosters for another year.

But never before have Nasser's clients settled their future without fanfare, and SBW is the most unpredictable attraction in a three-ringed circus production that's also featured Anthony Mundine and Quade Cooper.

The Chiefs offer threw a timely element of intrigue into the mix.

Williams, the Roosters and NRL only fuelled the speculation by giving nothing away until Friday's announcement.

Within hours after both the Roosters and All Blacks made their position clear, The Daily Telegraph was told that Williams made up his mind to stay in rugby league just before the finals.

"He knew he was comfortable and happy to stay at the Roosters six weeks ago," a well-placed source said.

But Williams happily continued the game of cat and mouse inside the winning sheds after Sunday night's grand final, declaring that he would require a

"few more weeks" to make a call.

Presumably Politis and NRL boss Dave Smith knew better.

Smith on Friday declined to pinpoint the exact moment when he had learned Williams was staying at the Roosters.

"I've been involved in some of the negotiations with Nick (Politis) for some time and he's done a fabulous job," Smith said.

"I've been in the background so that's a hard question to answer."

Politis was unavailable to comment, having departed for Greece on Thursday night just hours after Williams told Robinson he was staying put.

They say Williams informed the chairman with a wink and a smile sometime before speaking to Robinson over the phone.

It was as good as a handshake — a deal for which no words can describe.

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