Sharks power forward Jack Williams has declared he would be shattered to leave the club as he edges towards crunch time over his future.
The off-contract and underrated Williams is the last remaining forward inside a highly-performing Shark pack that remains without a deal beyond this season.
Cronulla have a salary cap juggling act to perform with a deep middle forward rotation that is spearheaded by Cameron McInnes, Dale Finucane, Toby Rudolf, Oregon Kaufusi, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Tom Hazelton, Royce Hunt, Tuku Hau Tapuha, Williams and will be further boosted by the arrival of marquee prop Addin Fonua-Blake next year.
A mainstay of the Sharks pack during their superb start to the 2024 season, Williams will look to provide his trademark punch and power against the Cowboys at PointsBet Stadium on Sunday.
The clash is a crucial home game for Cronulla and so too Williams, who has kept a simple philosophy towards blocking the thought of leaving the Sharks from his mind.
“I obviously want to stay. I love it here,‘’ Williams said.
“The group we’ve got is unreal and the culture is amazing. If there’s (salary cap) room for me, I definitely want to stay.
“If I have to leave, there’ll be no hard feelings, but my main priority is to stay here.
“Especially the way we’re going, I feel like we’re building towards something.
“I have been focusing on week to week and playing and that’s been working well.
“My (pregnant) partner is probably more stressed than I am with a bub on the way.
“But there’s nothing I can really do except playing footy and playing well.”
An unabashed fan of Williams, Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon values the 27-year-old’s high work-rate, which so far this season has produced 100-metres per-game, eight tackle busts in six games and just over 27 tackle per-game.
Having made his NRL debut with the Sharks in 2018, Williams said the competition for spots in the pack was like he’d never previously experienced and that as a result, he could sense the Sharks were on a path he was reluctant to sway from.
“It’s definitely healthy competition in the forwards,” Williams said.
“It pushes us all. We know it’s going to force some of us back down to NSW Cup, but everyone is good about it.
“We’ve seen Brades (Hamlin-Uele) go back and start there and now Royce (Hunt) is starting his comeback from injury there.
“It’s good for the club. We’ve got a lot of depth.
“The club is definitely on the up with good sponsors and the development around the club, but the main thing is the development of the team and the staff, its super strong.
“It would be an understatement to say that I’d be sad to leave.”
