Symonds' streaker hit impresses Sonny Bill

When Andrew Symonds dropped his shoulder and dropped like a spud the naked man running like a banshee across the Gabba on Tuesday night, Bulldogs superstar Sonny Bill Williams was watching on television. "Hmmm, I'd be happy with that," the Kiwi international mused.

Williams knows what he's talking about. He's regarded as the greatest exponent of the shoulder charge in rugby league.

The streaker, Robert Ogilvie, reckoned the hit was "like playing football". Symonds, who once contemplated a career in the game and trained in the off-season with the Brisbane Broncos before the 2003 World Cup, must have thought for a moment that he was.

"I'm glad he chose cricket, by the looks of that tackle," Williams said yesterday.

"Or if he did, I would like him in my side. He got that streaker horizontal. It's always a good sign of a big tackle when you can get both of the other guy's feet off the ground.

"I'd definitely like to have a tackle like that on my resume ... And I don't think that streaker will be running onto cricket grounds any more."

Roosters second-rower Willie Mason's eastern suburbs home was being patrolled by police because of anonymous death threats against him earlier in the day when Symonds pulled off his copybook bone-rattler. But he also saw the tackle.

"I reckon it was awesome," Mason beamed. "It's the best hit I've seen for ages. We should sign him up."

Alas, the Roosters have salary-cap issues for next season but, as Symonds demonstrated, a properly timed shoulder charge reverberates around an arena and through the ages.

Hear that? That's the Wally Lewis shot on New Zealand fullback Darrell Williams during the trans-Tasman Test at Mount Smart Stadium in 1989. And the thunderous hit from former Bulldogs, Wests and Manly enforcer David Gillespie that effectively ended the brilliant career of Parramatta's Peter Sterling.

Unfortunately, the shoulder charge is a dying art. It is banned in rugby union and has been prohibited nationally in rugby league up to under-15s level for several years. Queensland Rugby League this year extended it up to under-18s. And NRL coaches advise first-graders against it, preferring a wrestle and slowing-down of the play-the-ball.

"I do it to pump my teammates up," Williams said.

"If we're struggling and defending five or six sets in a row, I'll try to pull one off. But, to be honest, only about half of them come off. You have to time it perfectly."

To that end, former Maroons forward Trevor Gillmeister, who reckons he was too short for the shoulder charge, believes Symonds should work on his technique.

"He didn't drive through properly," remarked "The Axe". "He didn't finish the tackle off. And if he's ever going to make it in rugby league, he might want to put a cheap shot in there somewhere, too."

- © Fairfax NZ News