Williams, Tony

Tony WILLIAMS [Player Stats]


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Williams to debut against Raiders, Grothe dropped
Tue June 3, 2008
Source: www.parraeels.com.au

19 year old Tony Williams will make his National Rugby League debut when the Pirtek Parramatta Eels take on the Canberra Raiders this Saturday night at Parramatta Stadium.

Williams, who at 193cm and 106kg has been a stand out in the Toyota Cup, has been selected on the wing in place of Eric Grothe.

"There are parts of Eric's game that we have asked him to work on and we feel we haven't seen the necessary improvement from him," Eels head coach Michael Hagan said.

"It is a shame for him that Wentworthville have the bye this week in the NSW Cup, but we hope that taking some time to think about things will bring the desired result.

"Tony Williams will make his debut and will no doubt benefit from having Taulima Tautai and Krisnan Inu in the backline with him, given he's played plenty of football with them in the past.

"We're looking forward to seeing how he handles the step up."

Daniel Wagon returns to the starting line up after missing the Broncos match for family reasons, while Weller Hauraki returns to the bench in place of Brendan Oake, who will miss one match after taking an early guilty plea on a striking charge.

Inu shifts to the centres in place of Jarryd Hayne, who will attempt to get a dangerous throw charge downgraded at the NRL Judiciary after being named in the NSW side for State of Origin two.

Tautai takes Inu's place on the wing.

Eels Toyota Cup head coach Matthew Cameron has made wholesale changes to his side for the clash with the Raiders, naming three new faces in the backline, making two positional changes, and welcoming Marty Lewis and David Baumann back from suspension and injury respectively.

Gone from the side that lost 32-6 to the Broncos are Justin Hunt, Domenic Nasso and Taputoa Rea, while Fareni Moefaauo, Jay Heming and Nathan Gardner come into the backline.

Joel Latham takes the place of cousin Luke in the second row, where he will partner Baumann, with Lewis returning at lock.

John Mannah will also return from injury in jersey number 17.

Gates open at 5.05pm on Saturday, with Toyota Cup kicking off at 5.15 and First Grade at 7.30.

PIRTEK PARRAMATTA EELS
TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP
V RAIDERS
PARRAMATTA STADIUM
SATURDAY 7 JUNE 2008
7:30PM

1. Luke Burt
2. Taulima Tautai
3. Krisnan Inu
4. Joel Reddy
5. Tony Williams
6. Feleti Mateo
7. Brett Finch
8. Nathan Cayless [c]
9. Mark Riddell
10. Fuifui Moimoi
11. Nathan Hindmarsh
12. Daniel Wagon
13. Chad Robinson

Subs:
14. Matthew Keating
15. Josh Cordoba
16. Weller Hauraki
17. Junior Paulo

Coach: Michael Hagan

PIRTEK PARRAMATTA EELS
TOYOTA CUP
V RAIDERS
PARRAMATTA STADIUM
SATURDAY 7 JUNE 2008
5:15PM

1. Mase Laulu Togagae
2. Fareni Moefaauo
3. Taniela Lasalo
4. Jay Heming
5. Nathan Gardner
6. Kristopher Keating [c]
7. Daniel Mortimer
8. Tim Robinson
9. Anthony Mitchell
10. Joe Mataele
11. Joel Latham
12. David Baumann
13. Martin Lewis

Subs:
14. Luke Mottinelli
15. Jason Baitieri
16. Luke Latham
17. Jonathon Mannah

Coach: Matt Cameron

News Source: www.parraeels.com.au


Manly sign boom Eels talent Tony Williams
Wed May 28, 2008
by Matthew O'Neill
Manly have won the race to sign talented Parrmatta Toyota Cup back-rower Tony Williams as both Club's issued at press releases expressing their delight and disappointment at the decision.

Williams who along with Daniel Mortimer have been the Eels two shining lights as they sit in a clear 4th position in the Toyota Cup competition this season and is currently 5th in the point scoring stakes after Ben Barba (Bulldogs), Chris Sandow (Rabbitohs), Lachlan Coote (Panthers) and Ben Hunt (Broncos).

Both Manly and Parramatta entered the Sydney Premiership in 1947 and their rivalry began to spark in the late 1970's following a tense 1976 Grand Final won by the Sea Eagles 13-10 when Neville Glover dropped the ball with the line wide open. Manly bundled Parramatta out in controversial fashion in 1978, but the Eels extracted revenge defeating the Sea Eagles in successive Grand Finals in 1982-83.

Former Manly great Noel Cleal has described Williams as a player similar to Panthers and Kiwis forward Frank Pritchard.

Parramatta boss Denis Fitzgerald made note that the Eels developed Williams over the last four years, he is a local junior (also pointed out by Cleal) and that Manly's offer was close to double to what the Eels offered.

Below are the two press releases.

MANLY PRESS RELEASE
The Manly Sea Eagles today won the race to sign boom Parramatta under 20's star Tony Williams to a three year contract.

Williams is described by Manly's recruitment manager Noel Cleal as a 'Frank Pritchard' type player and a future star of the NRL.

"This kid is all power and an explosive player who can play centre but is probably going to make his mark as a back rower playing on the edge as he matures," Cleal said.

"We are delighted he has chosen to join us - a half a dozen clubs were chasing his signature,"Cleal said. At 193 cms and 106 kg, Williams is a giant of a young man and a talented goal kicker with an 80 per cent success rate. He is a Cabramatta junior and is regarded as the gun player in Parramatta's elite Toyota Cup side (under 20's)."

Williams was impressed with Manly's training and coaching facilities at the Sydney Academy of Sport when given a recent tour of the complex. Manly CEO Grant Mayer said Williams signing was a major investment in the future. "Williams is an elite youngster with an exciting future - it's a credit to our coaching and recruitment group that they can attract a young player with his ability to the club.

"Coming on top of the signing last week of Newcastle Knights five eighth Chris Bailey it has been an excellent week off the field for the club," Mr Mayer said.

PARRAMATTA PRESS RELEASE
Eels Disappointed At Williams Decision

Pirtek Parramatta Eels Chief Executive Denis Fitzgerald has expressed his extreme disappointment at the loss of Toyota Cup player Tony Williams.

The Cabramatta junior, who has featured in every one of the Eels Toyota Cup matches this season, this week agreed to a three year deal with the Manly club.

"We made Tony a very competitive offer which took into account his undoubted potential," Mr Fitzgerald said.

"Our coaches have recognised and nurtured Tony's abilities over the past four years as he's progressed through Parramatta's development program, which is the benchmark for all NRL clubs.

"Unfortunately Manly have come up with a massive offer, which was about double our offer, and our salary cap prevented us from increasing our bid for a player who is yet to play First Grade.

"We came into 2008 with a number of signing priorities, of which Tony was one, but we were not prepared to sacrifice other players who we also needed to re-sign, including Jarryd Hayne, Krisnan Inu, Ben Smith, Brett Finch, and Matthew and Kris Keating.

"We are disappointed that Tony and his manager have arrived at this decision but we know he will be doing his best for our Toyota Cup team this year and we wish him well for the future."

====================================================================================================== 2008 Toyota National Youth Competition Parramatta Eels 10 games; 5 tries, 32/41 goals, 84 points. [View] Round 1 [15 Mar 08] W 30-24 v Bulldogs (H). [SR] 8 Pts; 4/5g [View] Round 2 [23 Mar 08] W 26-22 v Warriors (A). [SR] 14 Pts; 2t, 3/5g [View] Round 3 [28 Mar 08] W 18-10 v Knights (H). [SR] 4 Pts; 2/2g [View] Round 4 [05 Apr 08] D 26-26 v Cowboys (A). [SR] 6 Pts; 3/5g [View] Round 5 [11 Apr 08] W 30-14 v Gold Coast (H). [CT] 10 Pts; 5/6g [View] Round 6 [18 Apr 08] W 23-16 v Sea Eagles (H). [CT] 10 Pts; 1t, 3/4g [View] Round 8 [03 May 08] L 18-44 v Panthers (A). [CT] 10 Pts; 1t, 3/3g [View] Round 9 [11 May 08] L 24-34 v Dragons (H). [CT] 8 Pts; 4/4g [View] Round 10 [16 May 08] W 33-20 v Roosters (H). [CT] 12 Pts; 1t, 4/6g [View] Round 12 [30 May 08] L 6-32 v Broncos (A). [SR] 2 Pts; 1/1g ====================================================================================================== 2008 NRL Telstra Premiership Parramatta Eels 3 games; 1 tries, 4 points. [View] Round 13 [07 Jun 08] W 30-12 v Raiders (H). [WG] [View] Round 14 [15 Jun 08] W 44-6 v Tigers (A). [WG] [View] Round 15 [22 Jun 08] L 14-16 v Sharks (A). [WG] 4 Pts; 1t ======================================================================================================

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