DAVID GALLOP, the chief executive of the National Rugby League, and the Bulldogs management may be steeling themselves for Supreme Court action to prevent Sonny Bill Williams, one of their star players, from deserting the club for a lucrative contract in France.

But the verdict from some of the country's top employment lawyers is already clear: they have Buckley's chance.

The consensus is that a court is highly unlikely to prevent Williams from accepting a two-year, $3 million offer to play rugby union for Toulon.

"The courts will not make an order saying he has to play for

the Bulldogs because he may

turn up and play poorly," Professor Mark Davison, an employment law specialist at Monash University in Melbourne, said.

"The court would not order it because the court could not supervise his performance."

The Bulldogs management is in the same position as any employer that tries to prevent a valued employee, who has signed what appears to be a binding contract, from leaving the company. Even if it was to succeed in retaining the employee's services, it faces the prospect of the embittered worker simply slacking off.

Stephen Trew, a partner specialising in employment with Holding Redlich in Sydney, agreed that the court "would be reluctant to force an employee to work for a particular employer".

He said the courts had developed a principle known as "special services" which might apply to Williams, but the Bulldogs would have to prove that he was not simply a star player who would be a loss to the team but that he was a unique talent.

Trew said the "special services" principle usually applied to actors or entertainment professionals who had been billed as the stars of a show, which would have to be cancelled if they reneged on their contracts.

"Sonny Bill Williams may be a good or even great player but are his services absolutely unique? That's the question for the court."

The former head of the Rugby League Professionals Association, Tony Butterfield, said Bulldogs sponsors, who had factored Williams into their commercial deals, might press the club for compensation if he left.