'It's never easy': Raiders halfback Sam Williams departs club

Halfback Sam Williams has left Canberra after his third stint at the club as he looks to prolong his playing career.

The 107-game NRL veteran has been stuck in NSW Cup and hasn’t cracked the Raiders’ first grade side this season, and will immediately depart the club.

Williams, 31, said he’s received attention from other NRL clubs as well as from England’s Super League, but said making sure he didn’t take opportunities from younger Raiders’ halves was his main reason for leaving.

“The club’s in a really good position going forward especially in the haves and I didn’t want to stay around and stop a younger player coming through the system and being able to get game time, whether that’s in reserve grade or first grade,” he told reporters.

“It’s never easy, but I think it would have been selfish of me to to keep playing the rest of the year and prevent someone else from having that opportunity.”

Williams, from nearby Cooma, said he’d joined the club around 16 years ago as a junior, having also played at St George Illawarra, Catalans Dragons and Wakefield Trinity to date.

“I’m lucky in the sense my body’s held up pretty well over the years and I’m not moving on because I can’t get out of bed and go to training anymore,” he said.

“Over the next week or two, I’d like to have a few decisions made … whether that’s the long term plan, I’m not sure.”