{"id":290037,"date":"2023-09-26T06:33:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T06:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=290037"},"modified":"2023-09-26T06:33:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T06:33:58","slug":"nineteen-years-later-niall-is-out-to-join-brother-sonny-bill-as-a-premiership-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/nineteen-years-later-niall-is-out-to-join-brother-sonny-bill-as-a-premiership-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Nineteen years later, Niall is out to join brother Sonny Bill as a premiership winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Niall Williams-Guthrie remembers the intensity and the excitement of the 2004 NRL grand final.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d flown over from New Zealand to watch her 19-year-old brother, Sonny Bill Williams, play for the premiership in front of 80,000 people in just his first year in the NRL.<\/p>\n

Nineteen years later, Williams-Guthrie is poised to experience those emotions all over again \u2013 but this time she\u2019ll be on the field, rather than in the stands, when she runs out for the Titans in Sunday\u2019s NRLW grand final.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was unreal, that was crazy [2004 final]. I remember sitting in the stands watching with all of our family, there was like 50 of us \u2026 it was a cool moment for our family,\u201d Williams-Guthrie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me to even be a part of the Titans is massive, but hopefully be a part of a first premiership winning team, in any sport on the Gold Coast, is massive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said we wanted to bring gold to the Gold [Coast]. We\u2019ve never shied away that that was our end goal, but we knew we had to tick all the boxes to get there.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sonny Bill Williams lifting the NRL premiership trophy in 2004 and his sister Niall Williams-Guthrie celebrating after the Titans won their 2023 NRLW semi-final.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>NRL Photos<\/cite><\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to put ourselves in the position where we are only one game away from doing that is just credit to the girls and our management.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams-Guthrie is playing her first season in rugby league at the age of 35, after switching from rugby sevens where she won an Olympic silver and Commonwealth Games gold and bronze for New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes people talk to me like I\u2019m a seasoned veteran because I\u2019ve played sports for so long, but I\u2019m pretty much 9-10 games deep in my league career,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And when she needs a bit of extra advice, her brother isn\u2019t afraid to give some feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get voice messages from him [Sonny], the whole debrief, after every game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Niall with her brother Sonny Bill Williams.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n

The Titans have been the surprise package of the NRLW season. Karyn Murphy\u2019s team is made up of a mix of veterans like Stephanie Hancock (41) and Karina Brown (34), and a handful of teenagers fresh out of the Titans junior pathways such as Rilee Jorgensen and Destiny Mino-Sinapati.<\/p>\n

One thing that Williams-Guthrie has that a lot of the younger players don\u2019t is big game experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne more set, that\u2019s all we got. The next tackle, that\u2019s all we got right now, right here and then,\u201d she tells them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go too far ahead of yourself, or you don\u2019t stay in the moment, and you\u2019re thinking about the grand final, but you\u2019re missing the tackle here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s a good moment or a bad moment, you learn from it and you move on to the next one, and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been drilling into some of the young girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as she flew over to support Williams 2004, her family is flying across the ditch this weekend to cheer her on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club helped me to get my daughters and Tama [husband] over for the grand final, so we just had to have that faith that we were going to be in the grand final,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re flying in the day before, and it\u2019s been two and a half months since I last saw them, so it\u2019s going to be a big reunion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the NRLW grand final exclusive, live and free on Channel 9 and <\/i><\/b>9Now<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Sports news, results and expert commentary. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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