Veteran NRL star Willie Mason doesn't have any regrets in his long rugby league career, but if he had his time again, rugby union would have been the code for him.
On a nationwide tour to promote February's inaugural NRL Auckland Nines, Big Willie stopped by Hamilton yesterday and talked in his typically candid way on a wide range of issues.
The 33-year-old, who has one year remaining on his Newcastle Knights contract, has never been far from the spotlight, for the right and wrong reasons, since his debut for the Canterbury Bulldogs in 2000.
Having won a premiership, played Origin and test footy, Mason had a brief stint in the 15-man code with French club Toulon in 2011, but was released later that year, having struggled to make an impact.
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But with the amount of money on offer in rugby these days, Mason would have switched earlier, with more time to get to grips with the sport.
"When I was like 23, 24, I had done everything in the game. And if I could see in the future, which no-one can, I'd probably go to union," he said.
"That's why you see so many guys working their arse off to be an All Black, as soon as you get an All Black cap, bang, see you later, you get a million dollars over in Japan. You've played five minutes in the All Blacks, but it doesn't matter, you're an All Black.
"I wouldn't come to league either, why would ya? It's physical, it's hard, every week, it's 26 rounds, you don't get paid as much as when you can just f... around in France or Japan, bash all the Japanese guys around and get a few million dollars for 14 games."
Mason admits he wished his rugby experience was in the southern hemisphere instead of playing "kick tennis" up north, and he said what stopped him changing codes earlier was not wanting to step outside his comfort zone.
Now under the cosy leadership of master coach Wayne Bennett at the Knights, Mason doesn't want to play for anyone else if he decides not to retire after next season.
"If I feel like I'm still competing with the big boys and I'm still doing my thing and I'm still handling my s..., I'll just keep playing," Mason said, adding that the on-field sledging he's accustomed to would be something he would miss most when he hangs up his boots.
"You'll miss the camaraderie, but just the battles on the field, you know what I mean, just like pissing everyone off, and just hammering them physically, mentally, all that kind of stuff. I've reached that limit in my career now where I'm a veteran sort of player and it's like 'If you want to take my head off, take it off, I can take your head off as well you know'."
Mason hasn't just raised the ire on the field, he has for a long time been unpopular with the public on these shores. And he knows why, having been born here, then moving across the ditch as a four-year-old.
"If my heart was in New Zealand I'd play for New Zealand, there'd be no doubt in my mind.
"Why would I be fake about it and just go 'I want to play for New Zealand because you're the first one to give me a jersey'. I'm not like that, man, I'd back myself to play for Australia, and I did.
"If I wasn't a good player they wouldn't give a f... would they."
Meanwhile, on the prospect of the Nines, which will be held at Eden Park on a five-year deal, Mason is looking forward to the more ad-lib style than he's used to.
"With league being such a structured game these days, it sucks for bigger guys. If you're a front rower you just hit the ball up, man, you do what the halves tell you, man, run there, don't f...... run a metre either side of that line. That's how much the game's changed. When I first started it was like 'Just run, just run'."
