Sky Sports’ pundit and ex-Wigan winger Brian Carney says George Williams will leave for the NRL ahead of next season.
Williams has been strongly linked with a move Down Under but it was reported yesterday that the Super League champions have set an asking price of $500,000.
After their shock defeat to newly promoted London Broncos on Sunday, Wigan head coach Adrian Lam admitted the rumours were unsettling Williams’ performances.
But Carney has gone one step further and believes the speculation surrounding the 24-year-old is affecting the whole team, with the Warriors sitting a lowly 10th in the Super League standings.
“We know London beat Wakefield in Round 1 and the narrative will be ‘don’t take London lightly because they can do damage’… but Wigan were way off where they need to be,” Carney told Sky Sports News.
“Adrian Lam post-match was critical of his senior players. He mentioned a couple of players who did well and performed well in that game but on the whole he was very disappointed.
“George Williams has come in for a bit of focus. Of course he’s rumoured to be going to the NRL – I can tell you with conviction that George Williams will be in the NRL in 2020.
“That’s a distraction at the moment, and something Adrian Lam has referenced in the media.
“His star playmaker, and one of the men that’s pivotal to the new way that apparently Adrian Lam wants to have this Wigan side playing, is distracted with moves abroad and his future.
“They need to solve that, and solve it quickly.”
