George Williams opens up on abuse and honesty on Wigan Warriors

When George Williams made the move to the Warrington Wolves during the 2021 Super League season, it raised a few eyebrows.

Having spent all of his Super League career – prior to his move to the Canberra Raiders at the end of 2019 – at Wigan Warriors, Williams appeared at the Halliwell Jones Stadium ready to do some damage.

Unfortunately, the move also prompted a mass of online abuse, but the halfback took the advice of friend and former teammate Sam Tomkins to get past it.

“I don’t get down about it, Sam Tomkins is probably the most abused player when he goes to another away ground and I was speaking to him about it,” Williams told the Through The Wire podcast.

“He said to me no matter what you get called on social media they will never say it to your face and it’s so true.

“You have that many trolls online and if I tweet about rugby they can reply whatever they want.

“But then I tweeted about darts the other day and a man replied calling me a snake and it’s just like grow up, you are someone’s dad or someone’s uncle.”

Having said that, Williams – like anyone would in this situation – was taken aback by the abuse to his girlfriend.

“One time I was disappointed, my girlfriend got abused when I left Australia.

“Call me whatever, I’ve been called whatever since I was young, but my missus was getting called bad things and it doesn’t sit well and it becomes personal.

“Everyone knows you look after your family but people are low and sad – I had to say to her don’t take it personally and that it’s my problem.

“She was alright about it and it probably bothered me more than it bothered her.”

Despite the online abuse, Williams still has fond memories of his time at Wigan and wouldn’t change it for the world.

“I’m proud that I played for Wigan and that was my club growing up.

“I love Wigan Warriors and I’m so grateful I got to play for them so many times and win trophies for them.

“It is what it is; I’ve seen tweets before saying I’m not welcome in Wigan but I walk round there every day.

“The majority of people are good but there’s still a small minority giving it out on online.”