The many faces of Willie Mason

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WILLIE Mason, a few days back, was cruising Sydney Harbour with 200 corporates.

"My first speaking gig,'' the hulking cult figure explains, chatting now over breakfast at a favoured Narrabeen café.

"I was bloody petrified, too. I mean, talking shit like we are here, I can do it all day.

"But holding court with a couple of hundred business people? I kept thinking 'man, what if they find me boring?'."

He needn't have worried.

Manly Sea Eagles Willie Mason poses for a picture in Curl Curl. Picture: Braden Fastier. Source: News Corp Australia

For if we have learned anything over the past 15 years, it's that William Marshall Mason ain't boring.

Colourful? Yep.

Controversial? Undoubtedly.

And now here on the day of when potentially his final season kicks, Big Willie opens up on becoming the greatest cult figure in rugby league history.

So how does a Housing Commission kid from Toronto become the most recognised leaguie on the planet?

"Man, I dunno. I'm just being me. You hear some players speak with the media these days, it sounds like they're accepting an Oscar. Why? All up, I've probably given the NRL $10 million in headlines. And who knows, maybe they'll pay me out when I retire ... (laughs) even if they didn't want all of them."

Mason scores for the Bulldogs. Source: News Corp Australia

The fact you've survived 277 first class games, does that answer your critics?

"I think so. But people have always been saying I'd fail. Even when I returned from rugby, after 18 months sitting in the south of France, they said I was done. So I went and played reserve grade. Once. It was like playing against kids. I knew I didn't belong there. Never have."

But the real knock wasn't your ability, it was that you were a destabilising influence on young players ...

"I'm an influential person. I know that. But I also used to think every young bloke was the same. Arriving at Canterbury, I had no one. My influence had always been dad, and he died when I was 17. But the mistakes I made, was anyone else blamed? No. And neither they should be. When senior guys like Brad Clyde or Darren Britt wanted to go somewhere and I didn't, I didn't go. Simple. I've never followed and thought all young guys were built like that."

Mason playing for the Kangaroos. Source: News Corp Australia

And now?

"I know now they're not."

At 17, did league provide the father figure you were desperate for?

"No. For me, it was sink or swim. And, yes, I swam. But it also saw me rebel against authority. It was: Why should you tell me what to do? Doesn't matter if you're the coach, the CEO, whatever. There was one guy who told me what to do — dad. He was gone, my brother was in jail ... I felt alone."

How did you act out?

"Little things pissed people off. Canterbury, for example, were sponsored by Nike. But for all media I'd wear a Champion hoodie. Champion sponsored me. They were paying me 100 grand and Nike weren't. So, no, I wasn't wearing Nike. Looking back now I think 'ah, you little arsehole'. But I was a Housing Commission kid. I didn't get it.

Willie Mason and Timana Tahu. Source: News Corp Australia

But still, there was more to your rebellious streak, right?

"Oh, I don't conform. Never have. And I wouldn't have made it in the NRL otherwise. There isn't a point in my career where I've doubted myself; where I've wanted to go home. That's the great cliche used by every bush kid who fails: I wanted to go home. Bullshit. You never wanted to go home. You gave up. I've never given up.

Are you okay with being league's biggest cult figure?

"I am. Now. For years that tag was something I wanted but, at the same time, didn't. You have to accept it. Realise your standing, your influence. And I do. (Laughs) Although I still think players should have the right to wear whatever makes them more money."

Like the Willie Wigs?

"Oh, I made $25,000 from those. Could've made shitloads more too if the NRL didn't own my image. Imagine that? Selling 50,000 yourself. If I could do that I'd still have the 'fro."

The tattoo on your left shoulder says 'Only God Can Judge Me'. Reckon the big fella's a fan?

"I think he'd be okay with me now. For a long time though, I struggled to know myself. Know where I fit in. It's only been these last three years, talking with Wayne Bennett really, that I've finally become comfortable in my own skin."

Willie Mason's hair helped make him a cult figure. pic. Gareth Morgan. Source: News Corp Australia

How did Bennett help?

"After the way everything was nailed to my chest at the Roosters, the bad influence stuff, I really questioned who I was. Am I a leader? Am I the right guy to have at a footy club? Wayne, he believed.

Did you need him at 17?

"Absolutely. And Wayne's said that. Reckons he would've had me sorted by 24 ... (laughs) rather than now at 34."

What's the worst thing someone has ever called you?

(Long pause) Rapist.

From the Coffs Harbour stuff in '04?

"Yeah. And for that group of blokes who did nothing wrong, who went through so much to then be called that? It's wrong. And it wasn't just one year, either. I'm talking four, six, eight years ... occasionally it's still said now during games. 'Ah, yah rapist'. It hurts.

Recreational drug: Is league awash?

"Society is. Back in 2000, drugs were a taboo subject. Two in 10 players would've tried them. But now ... you'd be shocked. Young players talk openly about it. But you go into any nightclub, no one is hiding it."

Willie Mason gets pumped during Sydney Roosters NRL training session at Moore Park in Sydney. Source: News Limited

Hate the punch being eliminated from rugby league?

"Doesn't everyone? Look at all the resulting niggle. It's awful. Plus no one got hurt. No one in the NRL throws them well enough to knock someone out."

You kayoed Englishman Stuart Fielden in '06.

"(Laughs) That was different. That was a Test."

So many games, how many headlines are left?

"Honestly, this could be my last year. I'm thinking about it. Right now, the body feels great and the drive is still there. But if that goes, if even for a second I can't give 100 per cent for the player alongside me, I'm gone."

But do you go with people finally understanding you?

"Who knows. I've always been an enigma. People saying 'this bloke is good, no he's bad, no good, nup bad'. Personally, I'm the happiest I've ever been. I understand who I am and the influence I have. So yes I've changed ... but not a lot."

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