Canberra’s English recruit George Williams wants to follow in the footsteps of his international teammate John Bateman and take the NRL by storm.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart added a fifth Englishman to his ranks, signing halfback Williams on a three-year deal to join Bateman, Josh Hodgson, Elliot Whitehead and Ryan Sutton.
Bateman dominated his first season of NRL in 2019 and was named the Dally M lock of the year, before helping Canberra to their first grand final appearance in 25 years.
Williams, 25, arrives from Super League powerhouse Wigan, where he played alongside Bateman for five seasons.
“I’ve always wanted to come test myself, I said from pretty young age if I ever had the chance to do it I would – the NRL is the best competition in the world,” Williams said.
“If you don’t believe in yourself than nobody else does. I’ve always thought that and I’m looking to do great things.
“Batey last year was unbelievable wasn’t he and if I could do something like that then that would be pretty unbelievable but I’ll just keep my head low and work hard.”
The signing of Williams, who has been capped 10 times, resulted in Aidan Sezer’s departure for Huddersfield and the former believes he can add to the 2019 grand finalists.
“I like to think I’m a little bit off the cuff and play what I see,” Williams said.
“With the forward pack we’ve got hopefully I can get on the back of that and put on some points.
“I’m under no illusions they’re a great team and I’ve got to find my feet first and I’m not presuming I’m getting picked round one.
“I’ve got to work hard, I’ve got six to eight weeks now to prove I’m good enough to play round one and that’s what I’ll be doing.”
Williams played for Great Britain in November with his international teammates Bateman and Hodgson reassuring him Stuart’s pitch about Canberra was genuine.
“I spoke to Ricky and (CEO) Don (Furner) and they’re always going to make the club sound good but I spoke to the boys and asked is it real and they backed it up 100 per cent,” Wiliams said.
“Standards really is a massive thing here; don’t just be happy with what they achieved last year.
“There’s a lot of hype around Canberra but within the four walls we’ll keep it as humble as we can.”
