English import George Williams showed shades of his Canberra coach Ricky Stuart with a starring performance in his team’s shock 22-6 win over Melbourne.
In just his third NRL match and his first visit to AAMI Park, Williams set up two brilliant first-half tries as the visitors ran the Storm ragged.
As well as the assists, he finished the game with six runs for 66 metres, three tackle busts and a linebreak.
He also crunched Ryan Papenhuyzen in a huge tackle that put the Melbourne fullback on his back.
A Raiders great during his 10 years at the club, Stuart was part of the team that won three premierships in 1989, 1990 and 1994 and were runners-up in 1991.
He also played in 14 State of Origin matches for NSW and nine Tests with the Kangaroos.
England international Williams is still a long way off that record but impressed his coach with his performance.
“I was very happy with George,” Stuart said.
“George and Jack’s (Wighton) combination is something that combined with Josh (Hodgson), is a big part of our team.
“They’re a big cog in our whole game plan and George, for his third game and a big break since his last two, the way he took on the game was a great example of the player he is.
“And he will only improve on that – he’s a wonderful footballer.”
Stuart said Williams’ ad-lib style meant he fit in beautifully with the way the Raiders, who are premiership favourites, wanted to play the game.
While the Raiders are now 3-0 to start the season, Stuart was unhappy with their second half performance and said that the Storm flattered them with their own poor showing.
He said his team made some “dumb choices” in attack.
But he praised their defensive effort, limiting a rattled Melbourne to just one try.
“I was very proud of the defensive effort and keeping them to zero in the second half but they really helped us with so many errors,” Stuart said.
“We were very gritty and if we didn’t have that grit and determination tonight, our game wasn’t going to get us the win, the grit that we showed was the telling factor.”
