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Big Willie Mason just another flash in Japan
By Mike Colman
February 27, 2009
Well, it's official. Rugby league season must be just around the corner. We're talking about where Willie Mason is going to go next.
A couple of years ago it was boxing. Then it was the NFL. Now it's Japan.
Great, they can have him. Willie played one good game last year, and that was only because Sonny Bill Williams managed to wake him up from his stupor.
His last decent effort before that was the first half of Origin I in 2006 but he petered out at halftime and wasn't sighted again for the best part of two years.
So if some Japanese rugby club wants to pay Willie a million bucks to stand around and look tough, good luck to them, but I can't see it working.
I've been to Japan. It's weird, like some sort of parallel universe. They do things almost like us but not quite. When you walk down the street everyone stares at you. When you go into a restaurant they all clap, and they do it when you leave too.
That film Lost in Translation was good, but it didn't go far enough. You reckon Bill Murray had a confused look on his face trying to work out the Japanese? I hate to think what Willie Mason would look like after a couple of months over there. He's confused enough as it is.
But enough about Willie. Enough about Japan and Benji Marshall and Fraser Anderson too. Truth is players come, players go, but the game's like Ol' Man River, it just keeps on rolling along.
And besides, the NRL has enough to worry about right here in its own back yard without everyone getting all fired up about a second-rate rugby union competition 7000km away.
How's this for some headlines we'll probably be reading over the next eight months or so:
NRL Club Broke: Can't Pay Players. Receivers Called In.
The NSW licensed club industry is on its knees. The State Government has milked it dry. First it was the increased pokies tax, then the Federal Government banned smoking.
Put the two together, add in the worldwide economic crisis, and it's just a matter of time before the first leagues club goes belly-up.
The NRL will have to respond very carefully, because if they bail out one club, there will be a line of CEOs with their hands out stretching all the way from Fox Studios to the airport.
Bennett No Saint: Dragons Legends Turn on "Foreign Import".
There's love in the air at Kogarah now, but wait till St George-Illawarra lose a few on the trot. Chook, Gaz and the boys will have the boots back on and be taking it up harder than they did in '62: "He doesn't understand the culture", "He's not one of us."
And won't the Sydney media love it. They've been waiting 21 years, and they're going to have a party.
Israel Not a One-Man Band: Club Pleads for Patience as Boy Wonder Finds Feet.
Rugby League Week has anointed Israel Folau "best buy of 2009" - and he hasn't played a game yet.
That's a lot of pressure on a 19-year-old kid, even if he is the size of a block of flats. It could take time to acclimatise to a new club, new coach and new fans. He'll get there in the end but expect the odd hiccup, and headline, along the way.
Thugby League: Drunk Players Charged After Booze Brawl Sex Phone Drug Claims.
Not a case of if, more of when. Young men behaving badly have become as much a part of the game as oranges at halftime. And every time a club's name is dragged through the dirt the air is alive with the sound of relieved sighs as CEOs from various codes around the country think, "there but for the grace of God".
Coach Has Our Full Support: Club Denies Sacking Moves
The headline every coach dreads, because he knows it's always followed by its evil twin.
Night Of The Long Knives: Coach Sacked As Board Says "Enough Is Enough".
And then of course it will be pre-season again and time for:
Cool Willie: Mason Eyeing Move to Canadian Ice Hockey.
Enough said.
By Mike Colman
February 27, 2009
Well, it's official. Rugby league season must be just around the corner. We're talking about where Willie Mason is going to go next.
A couple of years ago it was boxing. Then it was the NFL. Now it's Japan.
Great, they can have him. Willie played one good game last year, and that was only because Sonny Bill Williams managed to wake him up from his stupor.
His last decent effort before that was the first half of Origin I in 2006 but he petered out at halftime and wasn't sighted again for the best part of two years.
So if some Japanese rugby club wants to pay Willie a million bucks to stand around and look tough, good luck to them, but I can't see it working.
I've been to Japan. It's weird, like some sort of parallel universe. They do things almost like us but not quite. When you walk down the street everyone stares at you. When you go into a restaurant they all clap, and they do it when you leave too.
That film Lost in Translation was good, but it didn't go far enough. You reckon Bill Murray had a confused look on his face trying to work out the Japanese? I hate to think what Willie Mason would look like after a couple of months over there. He's confused enough as it is.
But enough about Willie. Enough about Japan and Benji Marshall and Fraser Anderson too. Truth is players come, players go, but the game's like Ol' Man River, it just keeps on rolling along.
And besides, the NRL has enough to worry about right here in its own back yard without everyone getting all fired up about a second-rate rugby union competition 7000km away.
How's this for some headlines we'll probably be reading over the next eight months or so:
NRL Club Broke: Can't Pay Players. Receivers Called In.
The NSW licensed club industry is on its knees. The State Government has milked it dry. First it was the increased pokies tax, then the Federal Government banned smoking.
Put the two together, add in the worldwide economic crisis, and it's just a matter of time before the first leagues club goes belly-up.
The NRL will have to respond very carefully, because if they bail out one club, there will be a line of CEOs with their hands out stretching all the way from Fox Studios to the airport.
Bennett No Saint: Dragons Legends Turn on "Foreign Import".
There's love in the air at Kogarah now, but wait till St George-Illawarra lose a few on the trot. Chook, Gaz and the boys will have the boots back on and be taking it up harder than they did in '62: "He doesn't understand the culture", "He's not one of us."
And won't the Sydney media love it. They've been waiting 21 years, and they're going to have a party.
Israel Not a One-Man Band: Club Pleads for Patience as Boy Wonder Finds Feet.
Rugby League Week has anointed Israel Folau "best buy of 2009" - and he hasn't played a game yet.
That's a lot of pressure on a 19-year-old kid, even if he is the size of a block of flats. It could take time to acclimatise to a new club, new coach and new fans. He'll get there in the end but expect the odd hiccup, and headline, along the way.
Thugby League: Drunk Players Charged After Booze Brawl Sex Phone Drug Claims.
Not a case of if, more of when. Young men behaving badly have become as much a part of the game as oranges at halftime. And every time a club's name is dragged through the dirt the air is alive with the sound of relieved sighs as CEOs from various codes around the country think, "there but for the grace of God".
Coach Has Our Full Support: Club Denies Sacking Moves
The headline every coach dreads, because he knows it's always followed by its evil twin.
Night Of The Long Knives: Coach Sacked As Board Says "Enough Is Enough".
And then of course it will be pre-season again and time for:
Cool Willie: Mason Eyeing Move to Canadian Ice Hockey.
Enough said.
