I'll be seeking professional help with regards to alcohol and, until myself and the club feel this is under control, I'll be off the drink.
— Sonny Bill Williams
I would say I have become a lot smarter in the way I understand things.
Boxing's not in my blood... it just grew on me.
It's not an easy gig, being in the NRL sometimes: you always feel for the boys because you have that mutual respect knowing what they go through.
I had to work on the fundamentals of the game because in league, the position I played, it was just bash and crash.
There was no way I was going to end up in the scrum when I came to rugby - you know, waste my pretty looks.
Now, I know a lot of things in the big man's world are not what they seem: a lot of people are out for themselves, and you can't always trust what someone says.
My old man never used to cook, so we lived on takeaway. The others were always jealous.
Being a young Kiwi lad, a young Polynesian boy, I was pretty close to my family. But when I moved to Sydney, I went from training twice a week, playing touch footy with my mates, to working full-time as a labourer and training professionally.
I don't know if I'm going to be any good at sevens.
Going back in time, the best sportsmen ever have been Olympians.
Seeing my daughter for the first time after I came back from the tour was just a life-changing experience... it still blows my mind.
How can I tell my daughter when she grows up to aspire to be what she wants to be if I am too scared to hop back in the ring because of what some people have said about me?
If we're going to be getting treated like that, why can't we treat the clubs like that? I just want to see the game and the players looked after the way they should be because the crowds don't turn up to watch David Gallop play... they turn up to watch the players play.
We're so lucky where we live, but we're so out of touch. Everyone's mindset is made to feel that refugees are a problem, but it's more than that. They're human beings, too. They were forced from their homes.
I thought that if I could play rugby on TV, I'd be able to get my mum a house. That was the driving factor.
As soon as I signed for the French rugby union, it was just a huge relief, you know, because I was out of Sydney and out of sight doing what was best for myself.
I have learned from my mistakes... the business we are in is cutthroat. I have seen too many older blokes give their all for clubs, then be told they are not wanted. Even blokes still on contract are told to look elsewhere.
I wouldn't say I am a businessman.
I just used to bank on my athleticism.
You always feel for your fellow players when they are going through tough times, losing and things like that.
I've got to do everything extra to put myself in the best shape to get in the World Cup squad.
I don't have the runs on the board to trash talk anyone in the boxing sense. I've got to do it the hard way and earn that respect.
I do speak my mind a lot more than when I was younger. I guess that's just my Polynesian background. That's how we are: just sit back and try and fit in, try and make everyone else happy.
I grew up as a Polynesian kid in the Polynesian community, and I was this skinny white kid.
If I could go back and change how I left the NRL, I would. My name will forever be tarnished but I wasn't the man I am now.
As a league player, for myself, you strive to win a comp. I'm lucky enough to have achieved that... but most sportspeople would love to go to the Olympics, and I haven't achieved that.
To win competitions you need a bit of luck and some talent. I think we have some talent on our bus.
Although the rugby league fraternity probably don't like it, the rugby union fraternity probably doesn't like it, it's cool for sportsmen, for young kids coming up, to know that there's not just that one door.
I think the reason I hadn't fought was just the aftermath of the Botha fight. You put so much into a fight, and people just talk about it like it was a bit of a farce or something.
If a lawyer, if a teacher, if a bus driver, if they're on $40,000 and they get offered a lot more to go somewhere else, what do you think they're going to do?
To be an Olympian - not many people can say that. But first of all, I've got to make the team, and I know a lot of hard work is going to go into it, so hopefully it pays off.
My parents were always living from pay cheque to pay cheque. They were always struggling.
I guess I've always had a - not really thought of myself as this big star, big identity in the game.
I guess you could say I have grown up, matured. I have seen a lot, and I guess that probably sums it up.
Just like in rugby, the pinnacle was playing for the All Blacks. That was always a massive thing. But you never speak it outwardly because it can sound stupid. But if you don't have massive dreams, you might as well stay in bed.
The NRL is not an easy gig, but they have some good talent, some good youngsters coming through.
It's pretty tough to play some good footy when your team is always losing.
I want to push myself.
What's the worst that can happen? I get knocked out. At least I tried.
I am my own man now; I can think for myself, whereas when I was 20, 21, I always wanted to please others.
It was a fairly normal happy upbringing. Not a lot of money, but a lot of love.
In rugby union, I was out wide kicking stones with the pretty boys.
As a rugby player, you strive to be an All Black, win a World Cup, and win a Super Rugby title.
I'm not going to sit here and be stupid. If someone comes and offers me double what I'm on, of course I'm going to sit down and seriously look at it.
Every rugby player in Australia and New Zealand or wherever they are from wants to play in the World Cup, and I am no different.
I have just fallen back in love with rugby league again.
I rock up to training, and Folkesy, Steve Folkes - someone that, to be honest, has never paid any interest in my personal life - he comes up to me and starts saying, 'You're not turning Muslim are you?'
By the end of my first year at the Dogs, we'd won the competition, and I'd played some pretty good footy.
I definitely want to play rugby at the top level, international rugby.
