"I'VE given someone my word." And as we all know - to steal a line from the Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire - the word of Sonny Bill Williams is as solid as oak.

The Roosters will tonight unveil the second set of players to be inducted into their Hall of Fame at a black-tie function at the SCG.

Doubtless, the chatter around the dinner table will be about the impending arrival of Williams, who on Monday revealed the worst-kept secret in the NRL for the past two years - that he will be returning to the game in 2013.

Williams' bizarre press-conference remark that he wants to honour a "handshake agreement" with Roosters chairman Nick Politis says plenty about him.

Apparently, a handshake means more than his signed contract with the Bulldogs.

That's right: solid as oak.

Of greater significance for Roosters fans, though, is what does it mean when their club moves heaven and earth to secure a player, seemingly on whatever terms he desires?

Politis has agreed to let Williams continue his boxing career and snap up a lucrative 12-game stint in Japanese rugby before turning up at Moore Park a month before the NRL season begins.

It is a one-year deal believed to be worth $850,000. Even though Politis has been pushing for a longer term, there's no guarantee Williams will be there beyond next season.

Take it as fact that Williams' manager Khoder Nasser has been insisting Williams does not play against the Bulldogs at their home ground at ANZ Stadium - a request Politis has refused to accede to. Yes, Sonny Bill is a football machine. A sight to behold with the pigskin in his oversized hand. But is he that good?

His imminent arrival is another aspect of a Roosters recruitment policy that has been difficult to track and has lacked patience in the past four years.

In that time, they have cut adrift players like Ashley Harrison, David Shillington, James Tamou, Nate Myles and Todd Carney.

Some had to go because of salary cap pressures. Others like Carney were dispatched because of disciplinary action. Either way, they are players who played Origin this year.

Bulldogs forwards Willie Mason and Mark O'Meley have come and gone and left gaping holes in salary caps and club culture.

Early this year, captain Braith Anasta was told he would have to play for a contract, effectively forcing his hand and signature at the Tigers. Something similar happened to winger Sam Perrett and before anyone could blink he was playing for the Bulldogs.

It was suggested that episode created deep tension between coach Brian Smith and Politis, to the point where neither were speaking to one another.While Politis is said to have given Perrett a verbal agreement that he could go mid-season, Smith saw no value in it. (Politis has denied he and Smith are not speaking).

The Roosters are fast approaching an intriguing crossroads. Smith has one year left to go on his contract, and given the abhorrent lack of discipline in their performance against the Sharks on Monday night, he has a long way to go in convincing the club's trigger-happy board that he deserves an extension.

Halfback Mitchell Pearce is off contract next year, too, but is approaching a point in his young career when promise must translate into substance.

Politis will not be in attendance tonight because he is overseas on business, but he is always there, always in the back of the minds of those in the front office, coaching staff and players.

A Godfather-like figure in signature tinted wraparound glasses and dark jacket, he has been the single most important figure at the Roosters since his City Ford car dealership was plastered all over the tri-colour jumper for the 1976 season.Tonight, the Roosters will honour the men who have always had that jumper at heart. Ron Coote, Dick Dunn, John Peard, Luke Ricketson, Kevin Hastings and others are in line for induction.

All of them solid as oak.

Will the same ever be said of Sonny Bill Williams?

Originally published as Chooks risk having egg on face