{"id":587391,"date":"2026-09-02T00:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/587391\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T00:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:16:16","slug":"nrl-2026-tony-t-rex-williams-lost-a-million-dollars-gambling-and-boxing-saved-him-jai-arrow-cameron-murray-roosters-rabbitohs-daily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/587391\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Tony T-Rex Williams lost a million dollars gambling and boxing saved him, Jai Arrow, Cameron Murray, Roosters, Rabbitohs, daily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former NSW State of Origin and Test player Tony Williams<\/a> has revealed boxing has saved him after he lost about $1 million following his retirement.<\/p>\n

The man dubbed \u2018T-Rex\u2019 during his playing days due to his hulking 118kg frame, makes his professional boxing debut on Wednesday night against Iranian Kamran Bahremand at Warwick Farm\u2019s William Inglis Hotel.<\/p>\n

Williams, who played 171 first grade games, three Origins and eight Tests for Australia and Tonga, revealed how he went off the rails post-footy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I learned to gamble, that was the end of it,\u201d he told the Courier Mail\u2019s Peter Badel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t blame the drinking and all this other stuff. I was pretty good like that, but the gambling, yeah, I lost everything because of it.<\/p>\n

Tony Williams at the NSW Blues training.Source: AAP<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost close to a million.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t make my mistakes. Put your money away because football doesn\u2019t last long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boxing has helped the 37-year-old get his life back on track and he eventually wants to fight fellow ex-NRL star Nelson Asofa-Solomona who has won his first three pro fights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not just doing this just for a quick payday. I\u2019m serious about doing this properly and respecting the sport,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early for me to say I could beat Nelson, but it would be nice one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latrell fuels Souths’ finals push | 00:59<\/p>\n

ROOSTERS GAME WILL BE AS FIERCE AS EVER DESPITE ARROW\u2019S HONOUR<\/p>\n

Hostilities will be put aside when Jai Arrow lines up for his 100th first grade game for Souths on Friday night at Allianz Stadium, but the on-field rivalry against the Roosters will be as ruthless as ever.<\/p>\n

Following last week\u2019s game against the Titans<\/a>, where Arrow officially played his 99th NRL match, emotions will run high again as he walks out onto the field for his final career game.<\/p>\n

Arrow, who is battling motor neurone disease (MND), will become just the 67th player to rack up 100 games for Souths before he will be replaced by Cody Walker at kick-off.<\/p>\n

A win over their arch-rivals on Friday night will secure Souths a home final and skipper Cameron Murray said the side will rip into the Roosters after the emotional scenes involving Arrow.<\/p>\n

He said while Arrow\u2019s condition has momentarily stopped the hate between the two clubs, the game won\u2019t go soft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone would be upset if it was,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n

Roosters keep Walker dream alive | 02:30<\/p>\n

The Roosters and Souths have played in some memorable games over the years including \u2018sin-bin\u2019 Sunday in 2022, when a record seven players were sent from the field.<\/p>\n

Murray reflected on an earlier match when the Rabbitohs defeated the Roosters 60-8.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Jai played our 100th (NRL) game together against the Roosters in 2021, the night Joey Manu broke his face,\u201d Murray said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur 100th game being against the Roosters was a nice moment together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray says his side will draw on Arrow as an inspiration to down their oldest foes like they did last week in the win over the Titans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made it special for Jai, and let him enjoy a bit of a taste of what it was like putting the boots on and going to war with us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Friday night\u2019s match is a home game for Souths which no doubt has angered the Roosters who see Allianz Stadium as theirs. <\/p>\n

“Having Savala there is not a bad thing! | 01:42<\/p>\n

Souths eventually want to share it with the Roosters once their deal with Accor Stadium ends in 2030.<\/p>\n

The Rabbitohs confirmed in March that they will begin to play more home games at the Moore Park <\/a>stadium from next year after negotiations with the Minns Government.<\/p>\n

Rabbitohs forward Keaon Koloamatangi said the Roosters can\u2019t stop them from moving in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like that\u2019s our home ground, we\u2019ll go out there and treat it like that,\u201d Koloamatangi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like home to us even though there are Roosters colours everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Friday\u2019s match, the Roosters have decided to rest the likes of James Tedesco, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Reece Robson, Naufahu Whyte and Daly Cherry-Evans.<\/p>\n

Souths will be close to full strength with only Tallis Duncan out with hamstring tightness.<\/p>\n

Roosters chairman Nick Politis has made a donation to support Arrow in his battle with MND.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NSW State of Origin and Test player Tony Williams has revealed boxing has saved him after he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-587391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}