I'll miss Ali Williams, who has retired from all rugby.
Not everybody in the game will, but in an age where bland is the default setting for most professional sportspeople he was a lively, giddy exception to the rule.
Not everyone enjoys a class clown but having worked in commercial breakfast radio for 23 years where being class clown is the job description I have a weakness for them.
It is true Williams could behave like a dick. During his career he has his Comical Ali days.
In 2002 Auckland wins the National Provincial Championship. Williams gets his hands on a bunch of Viagra tablets, and they're mixed into the beer the players and coaches drink out of the tournament trophy.
Given that Viagra is a prescription drug with a host of side effects, it's the sort of prank that screams "silly boy".
In 2007 in the Blues he and coach David Nucifora can't abide each other. By the time they hit Durban for a Super Rugby semi-final, management say Williams has had four last chances.
A fifth is one too many and fellow players are asked to break the news to him he should go. He flies home alone from Durban. The Blues lose the semi, 34-18.
"I guess," says All Black manager Darren Shand at the time, "Ali has always been a bit of a project, if you like. We have seen a maturing of him (in the All Blacks). We saw lot of good signs."
After the embarrassment of the ejection from the Blues he fronts his first press conference at the Crusaders in 2008 in a Spiderman outfit for God's sake. It's one of the luckiest strokes of the Williams' career that coach Robbie Deans is amused by the playground humour.
