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Big Willie is leader of the pack
By JOSH MASSOUD
May 24, 2006
MOMENTS after being named NSW starting prop for the first time, big Willie Mason wanted to make something very clear.
"Nobody tells me what to do any more. I do what I want," the giant declared as he strode through the foyer of Coogee's Crowne Plaza Hotel last Monday.
As we've come to appreciate, Mason is a 195cm-tall walking statement.
But love him or hate him, Mason is now also an elder statesman of the Blues side.
And that's what made his attitude on the first day of Origin camp last week so encouraging.
If the flamboyant Bulldogs prop is to dominate the toughest arena, he'll need to treat the Maroons pack with the same disdain he meted out to the media pack 10 days ago.
Satisfied after sending reporters and cameras scattering in his considerable wake, Mason was convinced he had made his point.
He is now prepared to speak.
"Being who I am everyone wants a part of you," he says.
"I'm not the sort of player who wants to go out and build his own profile and get sponsors and all that type of s . . . – I don't need to do it any more.
"I'm comfortable with who I am and what I've achieved."
Blues coach Graham Murray is comfortable as well. Incredibly – at least for those who could not help but follow Mason's colourful past – he has ordained Willie a member of the Blues' inner sanctum.
Diagnosed with ADHD, accused of taking drugs, demonised for his nocturnal lifestyle, condemned for his hairdo – Mason has been labelled just about everything but a role model.
But now, along with captain Danny Buderus and halfback Craig Gower, he makes up Murray's leadership group.
"Why is he part of it?" Murray pre-empts. "Because he's a natural leader and that comes through in the way he plays.
"He's also very interactive and a good bloke to have around the place."
Murray readily admits he "would probably not" have considered Mason for such a role when the prop last played Origin two years ago.
That was in 2004 when he was Public Enemy No. 1 on either bank of the Tweed.
That was the series when he broke curfew as part of the Gasnier-gate scandal.
When he took a break from doodling unflattering pictures on a tablecloth to forge Craig Fitzgibbon's autograph at a meet-the-fans evening.
It resulted in Mason being fined $6000 and, much worse, becoming the first-ever NSW player to be booed in Sydney.
He was making only his second appearance and he was already the villain according to 68,344 people.
"Yeah . . . that was great," Mason recalls sarcastically.
"Probably the only way to shut 'em was to play good and win.
"But if you can't step up in Origin you shouldn't be playing the game, whether they are booing for you or cheering for you."
He suspects the home crowd will be more accommodating tonight, but isn't completely sure.
They would be foolish not to forgive and forget.
As Murray points out, Big Willie is in "career best" touch at the moment. And in a Blues squad perhaps selected in accordance with reputation rather than form, that's a valuable commodity.
Yet despite obliterating the Kiwis as starting prop in last month's Anzac Test, Mason is still not prepared to accept the mantle as the Blues forwards leader.
"No, no way," he says. "At the Bulldogs I do try and lead the side around, but I don't see myself as a leader of this pack."
There is still hope, however, that Mason will be convinced otherwise before he runs on tonight.
He did, after all, eventually agree to talk.
Source: dailytelegraph.com.au
This article is all about Willie Mason and the picture on the front says ZERO TO HERO
Has the telecr*p actually called Mason a hero its a good read though!!
Go Mason
By JOSH MASSOUD
May 24, 2006
MOMENTS after being named NSW starting prop for the first time, big Willie Mason wanted to make something very clear.
"Nobody tells me what to do any more. I do what I want," the giant declared as he strode through the foyer of Coogee's Crowne Plaza Hotel last Monday.
As we've come to appreciate, Mason is a 195cm-tall walking statement.
But love him or hate him, Mason is now also an elder statesman of the Blues side.
And that's what made his attitude on the first day of Origin camp last week so encouraging.
If the flamboyant Bulldogs prop is to dominate the toughest arena, he'll need to treat the Maroons pack with the same disdain he meted out to the media pack 10 days ago.
Satisfied after sending reporters and cameras scattering in his considerable wake, Mason was convinced he had made his point.
He is now prepared to speak.
"Being who I am everyone wants a part of you," he says.
"I'm not the sort of player who wants to go out and build his own profile and get sponsors and all that type of s . . . – I don't need to do it any more.
"I'm comfortable with who I am and what I've achieved."
Blues coach Graham Murray is comfortable as well. Incredibly – at least for those who could not help but follow Mason's colourful past – he has ordained Willie a member of the Blues' inner sanctum.
Diagnosed with ADHD, accused of taking drugs, demonised for his nocturnal lifestyle, condemned for his hairdo – Mason has been labelled just about everything but a role model.
But now, along with captain Danny Buderus and halfback Craig Gower, he makes up Murray's leadership group.
"Why is he part of it?" Murray pre-empts. "Because he's a natural leader and that comes through in the way he plays.
"He's also very interactive and a good bloke to have around the place."
Murray readily admits he "would probably not" have considered Mason for such a role when the prop last played Origin two years ago.
That was in 2004 when he was Public Enemy No. 1 on either bank of the Tweed.
That was the series when he broke curfew as part of the Gasnier-gate scandal.
When he took a break from doodling unflattering pictures on a tablecloth to forge Craig Fitzgibbon's autograph at a meet-the-fans evening.
It resulted in Mason being fined $6000 and, much worse, becoming the first-ever NSW player to be booed in Sydney.
He was making only his second appearance and he was already the villain according to 68,344 people.
"Yeah . . . that was great," Mason recalls sarcastically.
"Probably the only way to shut 'em was to play good and win.
"But if you can't step up in Origin you shouldn't be playing the game, whether they are booing for you or cheering for you."
He suspects the home crowd will be more accommodating tonight, but isn't completely sure.
They would be foolish not to forgive and forget.
As Murray points out, Big Willie is in "career best" touch at the moment. And in a Blues squad perhaps selected in accordance with reputation rather than form, that's a valuable commodity.
Yet despite obliterating the Kiwis as starting prop in last month's Anzac Test, Mason is still not prepared to accept the mantle as the Blues forwards leader.
"No, no way," he says. "At the Bulldogs I do try and lead the side around, but I don't see myself as a leader of this pack."
There is still hope, however, that Mason will be convinced otherwise before he runs on tonight.
He did, after all, eventually agree to talk.
Source: dailytelegraph.com.au
This article is all about Willie Mason and the picture on the front says ZERO TO HERO
Has the telecr*p actually called Mason a hero its a good read though!!
Go Mason
