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Willie Mason is refusing to bite at the headline-making comments of incoming Roosters coach Brain Smith that he's free to leave the Roosters at season's end if he so desires - and that's worthy of a story in itself.
Mason told The Sun-Herald via text message on Friday that he hadn't read too much into the comments. "That stuff doesn't faze me," Mason said.
This from the man who has had no drama in the past airing his feelings in the media about coaches he doesn't get along with. Perhaps it was a sign that he really has matured. Before Smith's comments were published elsewhere, Mason told this paper he intended to fulfil the final year of his contract in 2010 and even hinted he'd go around for the club again if his form - and the team's performance - warranted it.
He also realised the Roosters had drawn a line in the sand and would no longer tolerate poor behaviour.
"The harsh reality is now that if you do step out of line, your contract's going to get ripped up," he said with a deadly seriousness. "So you've got to think now, 'Is having one good night out worth the rest of your contract?'
"[CEO] Steve Noyce and the board are really starting to build a strong culture at the club and I think this year, with all the negative publicity the club's got, the players really have to be responsible for their actions and cop the consequences if they do step out of line."
With warhorses Craig Fitzgibbon and Mark O'Meley leaving the club next season, Mason is excited to be among the Roosters' elder statesmen. Without the representative duo, Smith will steer a team with an average age of 21 and the man once considered a "wild child" relishes the opportunity to assume a senior role.
"I'm as excited looking ahead to next year as a senior player as I was when I was the young bloke making my debut for the Bulldogs," Mason said.
"I know there's a great senior playing group there, with guys like Braith Anasta and Anthony Minichiello, and then there's a really good crop of young kids coming through who are getting a taste of first grade this year and who are really starting to find their feet or have already.
"We've been in some pretty bad positions this year and as a player you're going to remember years when you're not successful.
"They got a little taste of semi-final football last year and now they're going to get a taste of what it's like not to play semi-final football - and it sucks."
In a rapid-fire couple of sentences, Mason sounded very much like the man his supporters have long wanted to hear.
Mason, who has been accused of being a media junkie, limited his involvement with the press this year. He has done just two interviews.
"It's a bit of a catch-22," he said of the criticism for being a character. "You want characters in the game and you want them to have a say, but when they do they slam you down and it sort of shuts everyone up. All the players are sort of on eggshells now. They've got to watch what they say and the way they act."
"There's no real point going out and having a good time, because you're always looking over your shoulder. That's something I've accepted now.
"While I have the profile I do, I can't behave like a normal 29-year-old man. "The pressure that comes with the game now is 10 times more than when I started playing."
Mason said he had finally realised playing league was more than a job, it was a passion.
"Right now, I'm really enjoying footy and life. And even though the club's struggling, there's nowhere I'd rather be."
I know this is a case of actions speak louder than words, but that last statement is enough for me. If he truly believes that, then he is definitely someone we want at our club.
Willie Mason is refusing to bite at the headline-making comments of incoming Roosters coach Brain Smith that he's free to leave the Roosters at season's end if he so desires - and that's worthy of a story in itself.
Mason told The Sun-Herald via text message on Friday that he hadn't read too much into the comments. "That stuff doesn't faze me," Mason said.
This from the man who has had no drama in the past airing his feelings in the media about coaches he doesn't get along with. Perhaps it was a sign that he really has matured. Before Smith's comments were published elsewhere, Mason told this paper he intended to fulfil the final year of his contract in 2010 and even hinted he'd go around for the club again if his form - and the team's performance - warranted it.
He also realised the Roosters had drawn a line in the sand and would no longer tolerate poor behaviour.
"The harsh reality is now that if you do step out of line, your contract's going to get ripped up," he said with a deadly seriousness. "So you've got to think now, 'Is having one good night out worth the rest of your contract?'
"[CEO] Steve Noyce and the board are really starting to build a strong culture at the club and I think this year, with all the negative publicity the club's got, the players really have to be responsible for their actions and cop the consequences if they do step out of line."
With warhorses Craig Fitzgibbon and Mark O'Meley leaving the club next season, Mason is excited to be among the Roosters' elder statesmen. Without the representative duo, Smith will steer a team with an average age of 21 and the man once considered a "wild child" relishes the opportunity to assume a senior role.
"I'm as excited looking ahead to next year as a senior player as I was when I was the young bloke making my debut for the Bulldogs," Mason said.
"I know there's a great senior playing group there, with guys like Braith Anasta and Anthony Minichiello, and then there's a really good crop of young kids coming through who are getting a taste of first grade this year and who are really starting to find their feet or have already.
"We've been in some pretty bad positions this year and as a player you're going to remember years when you're not successful.
"They got a little taste of semi-final football last year and now they're going to get a taste of what it's like not to play semi-final football - and it sucks."
In a rapid-fire couple of sentences, Mason sounded very much like the man his supporters have long wanted to hear.
Mason, who has been accused of being a media junkie, limited his involvement with the press this year. He has done just two interviews.
"It's a bit of a catch-22," he said of the criticism for being a character. "You want characters in the game and you want them to have a say, but when they do they slam you down and it sort of shuts everyone up. All the players are sort of on eggshells now. They've got to watch what they say and the way they act."
"There's no real point going out and having a good time, because you're always looking over your shoulder. That's something I've accepted now.
"While I have the profile I do, I can't behave like a normal 29-year-old man. "The pressure that comes with the game now is 10 times more than when I started playing."
Mason said he had finally realised playing league was more than a job, it was a passion.
"Right now, I'm really enjoying footy and life. And even though the club's struggling, there's nowhere I'd rather be."
I know this is a case of actions speak louder than words, but that last statement is enough for me. If he truly believes that, then he is definitely someone we want at our club.
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