Many New Zealanders' first impressions of Williams was when he arrived for the 2010 Canterbury season. He came, shivering, from a northern hemisphere summer, into a freezing Christchurch and an uncertain future.
He also arrived injured - his knee problem limiting his involvement in the red and blacks' season to six games. But it was clear that he had done so in the knowledge he was a good chance to make the All Blacks' end of year tour and so it transpired.
He did, however, play well for Canterbury, in particular when displaying an offload everyone would see a lot more of over the next two years.
There was, as ever, speculation and controversy surrounding the league prodigy who walked out on the Canterbury Bulldogs.
What was his best position in rugby? At Toulon he played in the midfield but the league second-rower also played a few games at loose forward in France. Was he good enough to make the All Blacks? There was even the matter of what club he would play for in Christchurch.
Virtually every club in Canterbury was bidding for his services (Belfast, which happened to be mentor Wayne Smith's former club, won). These, plus his conversion to Islam, were things virtually every media organisation in New Zealand wanted to know about and Williams added to his early notoriety when deciding to go skiing while convalescing from a hamstring injury.
Cue more front page news.
He made his All Blacks debut against England at Twickenham and played one of his best matches in the black jersey the following week against Scotland in Edinburgh. He caused problems with every touch of the ball in a man of the match performance and announced himself on the world stage.
His year with the Crusaders was a rocky one - the Canterbury earthquake in February last year affected him profoundly. He was relaxing in a spa in a central city public pool complex when it hit and his apartment was in the Red Zone.
Along with his teammates, he quickly had to adapt to travelling for every game and donated $100,000 to the recovery effort after one of his professional fights.
It was a kind gesture, but there is no doubt his two boxing bouts while he was at the Crusaders were a big distraction and accounted for his form fluctuations. For the second he trained extremely hard under the guidance of his controversial manager Khoder Nasser while in South Africa for matches against the Stormers and Cheetahs.
His time with the All Blacks also wasn't entirely straightforward. In the lead-up to last year's World Cup he was left out of the matchday squad for the final Tri Nations match against Australia in Sydney. That and his angry reaction to it, led to speculation he would quit after the World Cup.
But although he played only a bit-part role in last year's global tournament - he was involved for only a few minutes of the semifinal win over the Wallabies (and got sinbinned) and not at all in the final - afterwards he ended the inevitable speculation with his announcement he would be staying for another year, but with the Chiefs, rather than the Crusaders.
He admitted during his announcement in Hamilton today that he has rarely felt more comfortable during his sporting career than at the Chiefs. Certainly, his consistent form during this season's Super Rugby competition is a big reason why they top the table.
He played all three tests against Ireland this year and was outstanding in the big victory at Waikato Stadium. Now he is off again, bound for Panasonic in Japan and almost definitely the Sydney Roosters in the NRL.
After that, who knows? Whatever and wherever, it will be big news. Rugby player, league player, heavyweight champion. It's the Williams' way.
