Sam Williams (born 18 March 1991) is an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who last played as a or for the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

(NRL). He previously played for

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

in two separate spells and the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

in the

, and for the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

and

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

Background

Williams was born in

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a po ...

, New South Wales, Australia.

National Youth Competition

A Cooma Colts junior, Williams boarded at St Gregory's College for his secondary schooling and played for the Junior Kangaroos in 2010. Williams debuted for the

in the National Youth Competition in 2009 and was selected in the team of the year in 2010, he was also previously the National Youth Competition Captain.

NRL career

Williams has played 65 first grade matches for the Canberra Raiders and 4 for the

. He has scored 12 first grade tries. Sam made his

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

début for the Canberra Raiders against the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

in round 1 of the

2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The NRL ...

due to an injury sustained by then Canberra Raiders first choice halfback

Matt Orford Matthew Orford (born 22 April 1978), also known by the nickname of "The Ox", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the Erina Eagles as a junior. A City New South Wales rep ...

. Williams impressed on his début with a strong all round performance that earned him the man of the match award. In round 6 of the season Orford was again ruled out through injury, giving Williams another opportunity in first grade, in this game against the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

Williams was sent to the

sin bin The penalty box or sin bin (sometimes called the bad box, or simply bin or box) is the area in ice hockey, rugby union, rugby league, roller derby and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offence not ...

for a professional foul. Later in the season Williams managed to cement his spot as the first choice number of seven. In July 2013, Williams signed a one-year contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons starting in 2014. In June 2014, after only being selected for 4 games in 13 rounds for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, Williams joined the

in the

on a 1-year contract effective immediately. He returned to the

in 2015 on a two-year deal. In round 2 of the

2016 NRL season The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, Williams wore a special James Bond themed jersey with the number 007 on the back. He would kick the match winning field goal in that game with the Canberra club winning 21–20. In September 2016, Williams was named at halfback in the 2016

Intrust Super Premiership NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

Team of the Year. Later in 2016, Sam rejected a new contract offer with the Canberra and signed a one-year contract with English Super League club

for the 2017 season, after which he re-joined Canberra on a 2-year deal. Williams made 10 appearances for Canberra in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

but spent most of the year playing for Canberra's feeder club side

Mounties The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

in the

Canterbury Cup NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

competition. Williams played in Mounties elimination final loss against Newtown at

Campbelltown Stadium Campbelltown Stadium, formerly Orana Park and Campbelltown Sports Ground, is a multi-use stadium in Leumeah, New South Wales, Australia, owned by Campbelltown City Council. It is the home ground of the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Wests Ti ...

. On 5 November 2019, Williams signed a two-year contract extension with Canberra. In the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

he made a larger impact on Canberra, captaining them to a win in the final game of the regular season against the

. In round 17 of the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

, he scored two tries for Canberra in a 30–16 victory over an Origin depeleted Manly side. In round 15 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

, it was announced Williams would leave the

having been unable to make it back into the top grade side. Williams played 8 games, scored 3 tries and kicked 15 goals for the Raiders

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

side that year.

References

External links

Canberra Raiders profileRaiders profile
*http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/player?id=111311&name=sam-williams&team=55004 *http://www.raiders.com.au/default.aspx?s=player-profile-display&id=3716&player=sam-williams&team=Raiders *http://www.raiders.com.au/default.aspx?s=article-display&id=38243 *http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/playerstats/playerprofile/tabid/10898/clubid/2/playerid/1615/seasonid/7/default.aspx {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Sam 1991 births Australian rugby league players St. George Illawarra Dragons players Canberra Raiders players Catalans Dragons players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Illawarra Cutters players Mount Pritchard Mounties players Junior Kangaroos players Wakefield Trinity players Rugby league halfbacks Living people People from Cooma Rugby league players from New South Wales