Were we Sonny Bill Williams, we would train for our $10 million paycheck with the Toronto Wolfpack by eating three square a day at Maccas.
It is, after all, Canadian football and SBW already a giant of proper football of the sort played in the southern hemisphere, should find himself a giant amongst midgets when he plays at Toronto.
Williams is doing nothing of the sort, however, and has been involved in intensive training ahead of his debut in the English Super League.
We did see a photo of Williams doing a backflip from a trampoline into a pit of foam blocks, hence our allusion to Maccas and the pit of brightly covered balls that hold intense fascination for the kiddies that pledge allegiance to the Golden Arches.
Williams is working hard, not content to simply show up and collect his swag. He is undergoing an intensive 30-day boot camp at Australia’s high performancefacilityin Kingscliff, NSW.
SBW has felt the injury bug over his last several seasons and the programme he is currently using is intended to help him remain on the ground, as he will be a bid draw for Super League spectators and viewers who take a dim view of big-name players sitting out games.
Williams is attempting to learn how to protect his body. At 34, he does not have the luxury of missing a season and the $10 million Toronto will pay him will doubtless have a big impact of Williams’ rainy day fund.
There are other footballers in attendance, so what Williams is doing would not be considered radical.
Cooper Cronk used to do something similar as his clock wound down, but the pit into which he dove was not filled with foam blocks.
Cronk’s pit was filled with glass shards, rusty metal and used surgical instruments, all of which were doused with petrol and set alight.
Williams told Nine News, “The finished product is the big lights. You earn that right through that week, through pre-season, behind closed doors, when you’re at home doing your stretching, eating the meals that you probably don’t want to always eat. That’s how you get to that point.”
Hopefully, some of Williams’ meals are happy ones.