Sometime in the future, Sunshine Coast’s rugby league community may owe Sonny Bill Williams a big thankyou.

Sonny Bill’s walkout on the Bulldogs last weekend was a despicable act, but it has turned out to be good news for the Coast.

The reason? The Kiwi’s decision to head to French rugby has prompted wide-ranging debate on the future of rugby league and the Coast is getting more attention than ever before as a possible home for an NRL club.

That sort of talk was unthinkable just a few years ago.

Of course, just how far off a Sunshine Coast NRL team depends on who you listen to.

Roosters coach Brad Fittler believes there should be one already in this region, as well as the Central Coast and Coffs Harbour.

Here’s what NRL CEO David Gallop had to say about that.

“The simple fact is that Coffs Harbour and the Sunshine Coast don’t have the facility or the community to support a football club that needs to be turning over at least $12 million a year,” Gallop said.

“We certainly want to do some work to research growth areas and look at where our best returns will come from.

“We’ve already started that project.”

Gallop re-iterated last week that a second team in south-east Queensland was one of the possibilities for any NRL expansion or club relocation.

What the Sunshine Coast needs to do, and do it now, is present a united front so that the Sunshine Coast Squid, Sunshine Coast Snappers or Sunshine Coast Spanner Crabs are the No.1 option for the NRL when the time comes and not a second team in Brisbane, or one in Logan or Ipswich.

And that means showing the NRL, and the rest of the league world, that the Coast is dying to get a team here.

Let’s not forget that state government population projections suggest between 320,000 and 340,000 people will be living on the Coast by 2011 and by 2026 there could be as many as 520,000.

The first step is for the council to stop procrastinating about building the stadium at Stockland Park and get the thing happening.

Put in the dollars which had been committed and show we’re serious about the Queensland Cup and the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles.

The people at Stockland Park could do their hopes of having an NRL side based at Kawana a big boost by not trying to please everyone.

Change the current stadium plans.

The policy of having an oval-based playing surface should be rejected in favour of a rectangular-shaped field more conducive to producing atmosphere at league, rugby and football fixtures.

The AFL community would have to make do with their complex at Fishermans Road and considering an AFL franchise being based here isn’t even on the radar at the moment, they can’t really have any complaints.

Even if the NRL bid didn’t come off, it’s much more likely that an A-League club could end up on the Coast before an AFL one.

So what’s the next step?

I suggest all the key players in Coast rugby league should come together and have a serious chat about how to keep this NRL door ajar, staying ahead of their south-east Queensland rivals and not letting the opportunity pass by.

Head down to the Gold Coast and have a chat to the Titans chiefs about what they did to get their club not only up and running, but also based in an outstanding facility and with great business and community support.

Sonny Bill could turn out to be not such a bad bloke after all.