Why Peter Sterling believes George Williams will be a hit in the NRL

After helping Canberra to a 24-6 win against Gold Coast Titans, Williams’ coach, Ricky Stuart, said: “I’m really excited by having George. He’s a threat, has a good kicking game and is a good defender.”

And he also caught the eye of Kangaroos great Sterling, who believes the Wiganer may buck the trend of only English forwards making their mark Down Under recently.

Williams formed a slick halfback partnership with Jack Wighton, while his England team-mate Josh Hodgson is the Canberra hooker.

And Sterling said: “There’s no doubt Jack Wighton and Josh Hodgson made his debut very comfortable, but there’s a bit of Andy Gregory in this No.7. I love Englishmen in our competition, and the ones we’ve seen making an impact of late have been up in the forwards like James Graham, Sam Burgess and Adrian Morley.

“We haven’t had halfbacks – I go back to Tommy Bishop.

“But this young man here, with Josh Hodgson at dummy-half, you can afford to have two runners in your halves.

“George runs the ball very strongly, he’s a nuggety little bloke, and there were also some nice touches there putting people into gaps.

“It was a very, very good (debut).”

Raiders face the New Zealand Warriors in their next match though because of the coronavirus crisis, all NRL matches are behind closed doors until further notice.

The Warriors have had to relocate to Australia, and switch their home matches to the Gold Coast, because of travel restrictions in New Zealand. They have appealed to NRL clubs for loan players.