LIKE Sonny Bill Williams, they raged against the machine. But league renegades Dennis Tutty and Terry Hill believe the Bulldogs star has made the wrong move and has been poorly advised.

"It hurts me if there have been comparisons to me," Tutty said. "Mine's completely different to his. I didn't have a contract with my club and I had clean hands when I went to court. His hands are unclean. Because he signed a contract."

Tutty, an international forward with Balmain, sat out the 1969 and 1970 seasons as he took on the controversial player transfer system, which made it almost impossible for players to switch clubs at the time. Hill was forced to play the 1991 season at the Roosters when he wanted to play for Wests because of the controversial draft system. Both dragged their cases into the High Court - and ultimately won.

Revelations in the Herald that Williams's lawyers might claim his deal with the Bulldogs is invalid because the salary cap was a restraint of trade prompted comparisons.

"Mine wasn't a money issue," Hill said. "I chose to play for a certain club and they tried to force me to play for another club."

Tutty said: "If he was happy to sign that contract, he's only got himself to blame. Or he should have gone to the club and said he wanted more. I thought he should have worked a way out before he went, by offering to pay his contract out. I don't think he or his management put a lot of thought into what he did did."

But Tutty did sympathise with Williams, saying: "There shouldn't be a restriction on a player earning what he can. The salary cap stops clubs from going broke but what's stopping sponsors from saying we can top his money up so he'd be happy to stay?"

While Hill did not speak ill of Williams's manager, Khoder Nasser, he said he could see comparisons with the advice he was receiving from agent Tony Kelso at the time.

"Looking back now, I should never have left the Roosters," he said. "There were a lot of very good people at Easts and, in a nutshell, I believe I was wrongly advised. I look back now and it's a regret."

Hill backs the salary cap - and the draft system he defeated with his High Court action.

"We should reduce the number of teams and the draft should be brought in to help the weaker clubs," he said. "The only exemption should be for local juniors who want to stay."

Sporting bodies have historically failed to enforce their regulations upon players through the judicial system, as shown by the cases of Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman and American baseballer Curt Flood.

Bosman's legal victory in 1995 overhauled the entire player transfer system in European football, opening the way for the free-transfer system that remains in place today.

Bosman was prevented by his Belgian club RFC Liège from joining the French league side Dunkerque, even though his contract had expired, he was no longer a starting player and his wages had decreased.

Up to that point, clubs had the power to prevent players from leaving if they weren't satisfied with the transfer fees on offer and the player's contract had expired, but Bosman argued it was a restriction of trade. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg agreed, stating the system restricted the free movement of workers, and Bosman's successful challenge paved the way for all European-based players to transfer freely between clubs if they're off contract.

And in 1972 Curt Flood successfully challenged the Major League rules on trades that led to an overhaul of that competition.