Canberra Raiders 'don't want to lose' homesick George Williams

Stuart and the Raiders are trying to support Williams and hope he stays to see out his contract, which runs until the end of 2022.

News he is homesick will inevitably lead to speculation linking him with a return to hometown club Wigan, particularly as Jackson Hastings is leaving for Wests and Thomas Leuluai is expected to retire.

Williams' partner Charlotte is pregnant and due to the pandemic, family members have been unable to visit.

“We’re in constant communication with George and making sure he’s OK," Stuart told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It could now be a case of George have family come out for the final year of his contract. We want him to be comfortable and we will explore anything we can do to make life easier for the final year of his deal.

“George is a big part of this club and we don’t want him going anywhere.”

Williams, who hasn't commented on the reports, didn't mention being homesick in his BBC column at the weekend but did write about his excitement at becoming a dad for the first time.

"It's really exciting," he wrote. "Obviously, rugby league is my job and we put so much effort and time into that, most of my life has been to get where I am today, but this news has given me a different focus.

There's more to life than rugby league. It's opened my eyes."

Williams is a Wigan academy graduate who broke into the first-team in 2013 and was later handed the No.6 shirt by Shaun Wane. Several NRL clubs expressed interest in him over the years and Wigan made him a marquee player to keep him until the end of 2019, when Canberra paid a six-figure fee to sign him.