Former NRL halfback Sam Williams, who spent most of his career with the Canberra Raiders, has made his switch to cricket this summer a success, notching up a century for North Canberra Gungahlin on the weekend.
The former halfback, who was born in Cooma before playing a total of 103 games for the Raiders across three stints between 2011 and 2013, 2015 and 2016, and 2018 and 2021, to go with four games for the St George Illawarra Dragons and 28 games in England, retired from the NRL this season to open spots for youngsters in the Raiders' system.
The 31-year-old has since switched to cricket - a sport he said he missed because of his rugby league career - where he is playing for North Canberra Gungahlin, hoping to bring the club a premiership.
The club lost to Tuggeranong Valley in the grand final of the one-day competition earlier this summer, with Williams making 16 as his team were skittled for 161.
North Canberra are in the mix in the T20 competition, having won three out of their five games, while Williams' century on Saturday against Tuggeranong, which saw the club manage to snatch a draw by batting 96 overs to end with 9 for 227, keeps them off the bottom of the ACT premier cricket 1st grade 2-day competition ladder after two games, with five more games to be played after Christmas.
Williams batted through the innings, scoring 126 not out off 241 balls to ensure his team hung on for a draw, and speaking to The Canberra Times afterwards, said he wants to win a competition with the club.
"The main goal has always been to win a competition with the club," Williams told the publication.
"I'd love nothing more than to win a competition with North Canberra Gungahlin."
Williams labelled achieving the score a "massive achievement."
"I know that I missed out on a large portion of my career because I didn't get to play cricket," Williams said.
"I wanted to try and get a score before the window closes. It was massive achieving that on Saturday."
