Warrington's England contingent might be keeping a close eye on George Williams in France to make sure he doesn’t get “poached.”
The classy stand-off admitted some of his Wolves team-mates thought Catalans recruitment boss Sam Tomkins was trying to snare him before the Challenge Cup final earlier this month. Williams, 29, was spotted meeting his former Wigan and England team-mate sparking speculation he could be destined for a switch to Perpignan.
The ex-Great Britain star, who captains England against France in Toulouse on Saturday, revealed: “I met Sam and all the lads were saying ‘What’s going on there?!’ They thought he was trying to poach me! But I’m just really good friends with Sam. There was nothing in it. I’ve two more years here at Warrington.”
Ex-Canberra ace Williams will still only be 32 when his current contract expires at the end of 2026. He will be in demand then but would he consider extending his stay at Halliwell Jones Stadium? Williams, who joined when returning from the NRL in 2021, said: “You have to take it year by year but yes I love it here. We’re really building something.”
Title-chasing Warrington hope to be back on track after ending a three-match losing run with Saturday’s dramatic 24-18 victory at Hull. Matt Dufty scored a golden-point extra-time winning try and Williams admitted: “It was a weird game. We completed at 40 odd percent which to win the game is pretty good, really. We didn’t give ourselves a chance.
"We defended pretty well. But we were rubbish with the ball. Too many errors. Which is probably a carbon copy of the Challenge Cup final. There’s a lot for us to improve on. Naturally there’s always a bit of a dip off after the final, especially with the emotion of it all losing. This week off will do the lads good and then we need to get back to how we were playing pre-final. There’s no crisis meeting. We’re doing OK.”