The BEAR
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Noad's mates are out of control
LIKE two kids in a sandpit, the Bulldogs' Malcolm Noad and Willie Mason have had an all-in brawl this week which will inevitably end in tears.
The pair of them have gone at it in a very public and damaging way - the once-proud Canterbury jersey has been soiled and perhaps even damaged beyond repair.
Noad and Mason have a lot of explaining to do - to the team, the Bulldogs board, but above all to a legion of loyal fans who have stuck with this rabble through a hellish couple of years.
So far this week, Noad has come out on top in the pair's very public duel. A television poll returned a result that claimed 82 per cent of respondents believed Mason should leave the club. Only 18 per cent wanted Noad out.
They have missed the point.
When Malcolm Noad took the helm at the Dogs several years ago, he was taking over a club in crisis.
The Coffs Harbour affair was fresh in the minds of the public and Noad was seen as the hard head who could restore some pride to the place.
Since then, the place has deteriorated to the point that the lunatics are now well and truly running the asylum.
While commentators this week have applauded Malcolm Noad for his stance against Mason, they have forgotten that the very reason big bad Willie is out of control is that he has had no one pulling his head in for several years.
Noad is the bloke who decided he was going to be one of the boys when he first took on the job. He liked to train with the team, catch the team bus to games and always defended his players against allegations of bad behaviour, which more often than not turned out to be right.
He obviously didn't remember the old adage that you can't run with the foxes and hunt with hounds. Noad just wanted to be everybody's mate, which any decent club administrator will tell you is not possible when you are dealing with young men who play footy for a living.
He allowed his coach, Steve Folkes, to speak rudely to the media (when he agreed to speak at all) and to place media bans which sometimes lasted for weeks at a time.
The coach is rude to the point of embarrassment and harbours a siege mentality that has allowed players such as Mason to push all boundaries of acceptable behaviour.
Whenever one of their players has been caught at Kings Cross behaving badly, or fooling around in a public toilet, or urinating in the street, Folkes and Noad have shut up shop and blamed the media.
We inevitably receive a media release from the club's "public relations" man which tells us training is out of bounds for yet another week.
Folkes and Noad have overseen the demise of a team which, on paper, should be going close to winning the competition every year. The Bulldogs' shocking performance at the end of this season pretty much encapsulated all that is wrong with the club.
Mason and his teammates have been out of control for a long time. No person in authority at the Bulldogs has reined them in. It is inconceivable that any other club in the competition would have allowed its players so much leeway.
My dislike of the way the Bulldogs have gone about their business in recent years is well documented. But even the place's most loyal fans must have looked at this week's turn of events and questioned their commitment to the place.
Chairman George Peponis was quick to jump to Noad's defence when he said the chief executive was not facing the sack, despite rumours to the contrary.
Noad is very good at protecting his back. He has gone public this week because he knew he was in strife.
He could hear the rumblings from the board (which have been around for a year) and decided the only way to save his bacon was to publicly attack Mason - who is always a fair target.
The result is a very nasty spat which will probably end in Mason leaving the club and Noad keeping his job in the short term.
Folkes will survive for another year too. By then, the place's demise will be complete.
The only way to fix the Bulldogs is to find the next Craig Bellamy. The club needs a mentor who will stand up to Mason, Maitua, Sonny Bill and the rest.
Bellamy would not cop Noad's interference and we know he doesn't tolerate fools in the player ranks.
Folkes is no Bellamy. That is apparent. Until Canterbury's board realises it, the Malcolm Noads and Willie Masons of the world will continue to bring what was the competition's proudest club to its knees.
