Problems At The Blues
In 2007, Williams was one of the 22 players withdrawn from the first half of the Super 14 season in order to attend a "conditioning camp", as part of the All Blacks' World Cup preparations. Although he became available for the Blues in week 8 of the tournament, he was left out of the squad that week, was on the bench in week 9, and did not make his first start of the season until week 10, when the Blues played the Cheetahs. A week later he was back on the bench for the Blues game against the Sharks . A few weeks later, "for disciplinary reasons", Williams was left out of the squad to face the Sharks in Durban in a S14 semi-final match—which the Blues lost—and returned home to Auckland. Blues chief executive Andy Dalton told the press that management and senior players had made a joint decision to eject Williams from the team camp over incidents which occurred during the team's stay in Perth, Australia, where they had played the Western Force. "On several occasions (Williams's) behaviour has been deemed inappropriate within team conduct and protocol and on at least four occasions Williams has been addressed by either coach David Nucifora and manager Ant Strachan or the leadership group on behalf of the team", Dalton said. In response, Williams said that he took "a bit of responsibility" for his actions but that "it takes two to tango".
The disciplinary issue was later linked to a dispute between Williams and his coach about his lack of game time in the Super 14 and it was reported that Williams was one of three players who were demanding a release from their contracts if coach Nucifora was re-appointed for 2008 (as he later was). The report was denied by Auckland management and in any case Williams's contract with the Blues was due to terminate at the end of 2007.
Read more about this topic: Ali Williams
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