SBW no certainty for Kiwis World Cup

New Zealand rugby league chief executive Jim Doyle says Sonny Bill Williams cannot expect to walk straight back into the Kiwis’ World Cup plans when he makes his NRL return next year.

Williams will quit the Chiefs at the end of their Super Rugby campaign before starting a lucrative 10-game stint in Japan.

He will then sign a 12-month contract with a NRL club, widely expected to be Sydney Roosters, ending his five-year exile from league after his controversial exit from Canterbury midway through the 2008 season.

The Kiwis will defend the World Cup they won in Brisbane four years ago in the UK and Ireland from October 2013.

And should Williams be selected in Stephen Kearney’s squad, he could potentially become the first player to win both the rugby and rugby league world cups, having featured in the All Blacks’ success last year.

Doyle admits the prospect of the 26-year-old adding to the seven caps he won before his defection to the 15-man game is exciting.

However, he’s unsure if Williams would want to play international rugby league again.

“Once he’s signed a contract with an NRL club, then we will get in contact with him and see what he wants to do,” Doyle told AAP.

“He’s still likely to be exceptionally good but, with it being Sonny Bill, he may have some other plans, in boxing or rugby.

“The more players we have of a high quality available to us the better and he is a player I know the New Zealand selectors would definitely want to pick.”

Despite his box-office appeal on both sides of the Tasman and also in the UK, Doyle said Williams’ short-term commitment to league is a concern.

“It will be a big boost for league in this country but only by longevity,” he said.

“If he has one season with the Roosters, if that’s where he goes to, and then goes back to rugby, then it won’t have much lasting effect at all.

“If he’s in it for one year and then back to rugby union, then the selectors would have to take that into account before the World Cup.

“If you have a couple of players in your squad fighting for one position, and one is not miles behind the other in terms of ability, do you go for the one who will be here next year, or the one that won’t?

“The selectors will have a big decision to make.”

One player who does look set to play for New Zealand is Sam Kasiano, with coach Stephen Kearney confirming he will almost certainly be included in his team for the Test with Australia later this year.

Kasiano is wanted by Queensland, but Kearney is confident the Auckland-born prop will declare for his team.

“He was a struck match away from playing in the Anzac Test this year,” Kearney said.

“He tells me he’s a New Zealander and his mum tells him he’s a New Zealander!

“There is no more Origin this year, and we have a Test match in October.”

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