Mason: The God Send

[Yosh]

Yes, I agree it's a little early but boy oh boy did we look much better with him out there today. Was vocal, the opposition were wary of him and he was enthuasitic as they come.

Hopefully he gets more and more into it because I'd love to see him start in the front row next to Snowden come finals time.

Well done lad!

 

[The Showstopper]

He is a force of nature. An absolute 'presence' player. Macavity calls him a X factor and he is right.

 

[jonno_knights]

I thought it was pretty funny how as soon as he got on the field, the penrith defence committed to him way too early, and Buderus almost went straight through, in fact I think Buderus in his prime would have went straigh through ala the Broncos game in 2004, would have been nice to see that big old dummy again.

 

[Burwood]

I think he was lucky to earn those two penalties- there were times in the games where players were held down for twice as long. It seemed like the refs bought into the hype as well. But I can't to seem him churning out 50-60 minutes once he gets his match fitness up.

 

[Whats Doing]

Great 1st up performance for someone who has been out of the game for 18 months.

He played for about 25 minutes but those first 15 was real quality.

He will provide the extra firepower we need once he gets match fit.

 

[aqua_duck]

Least he doesn't drop the ball 1st tackle

 

[Rod]

He played well while he was on, which wasn't very long mind you. He looked pretty tired when he came on the second half.

You could tell the boys lifted when he came on though and you can't put a price on that.

 

[hugzy]

oh shit i said we're spoon bound when we signed him

happy to eat my words *nom nom nom*

 

[IanG]

Lost count of how many Big Willy references/puns I head in the last week

 

[Johns Magic]

Just a standard week for you then Ian?

 

[Big Tim]

He did exactly what I want Faas to do. Dominated physically and mentally.

I cant wait to see him and Faas come off the bench. One of them with the big wind up, the other wont be able to resist and will try to beat it......

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I missed the game as I was at work... Great to hear that Mason played well in the time he was out there. I've been pushing for the team to sign him since before he went to the Cowboys. The bloke has size (something we have lacked since Parsons retired) and is a big game player.


I'm not totally convinced that he loves the knights as much as has been written on here and in the papers though. The knights tried signing him twice and both times he either looked or went elsewhere (Cowboys, Tigers) on similar money. Hopefully he falls in love with the team and we get a couple of great seasons out of him

 

[jonno_knights]

He did exactly what I want Faas to do. Dominated physically and mentally.

I cant wait to see him and Faas come off the bench. One of them with the big wind up, the other wont be able to resist and will try to beat it......

Speaking of Duo's, the Ranga's looks awesome last night. If they can keep up those performances of hard running, and hard hitting defence, we will be set in the forward department. Its amazing how the side lifts with one signing, and when we can get on top of the opposition pack.

 

[Yosh]

I missed the game as I was at work... Great to hear that Mason played well in the time he was out there. I've been pushing for the team to sign him since before he went to the Cowboys. The bloke has size (something we have lacked since Parsons retired) and is a big game player.


I'm not totally convinced that he loves the knights as much as has been written on here and in the papers though. The knights tried signing him twice and both times he either looked or went elsewhere (Cowboys, Tigers) on similar money. Hopefully he falls in love with the team and we get a couple of great seasons out of him

Well he ended up signing with us for like $4 a game or something so looks like he likes us a little at least

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Well he ended up signing with us for like $4 a game or something so looks like he likes us a little at least

I'm pretty sure he was signed for a meat pie and a coke after each match, but close enough ;-) If we didn't sign him, then he probably would have said hello to retirement. Such was his desperation to get a start with a club, I reckon just a pie with no coke would have been enough to get him.

 

[Knightmare]

He played well last night, but I am not fully convinced yet. Mason circa 2003-04 was an awesome unit, but his attitude let him down and stopped him from being the player he could have been.

As a friend of mine said though, if anybody can get Willie playing to his full potential, it's Uncle Wayne. I'm happy for my scepticism of Big Willie to be thwarted...

 

[RABK]

Knightmare Mason was the worlds best forward 02-06. Far ahead of the overated Webcke and Hindmarsh and Tallis was playing injured. He averaged about 160m a game and attracted 4 defenders every run.

He simply was dominant. His career definitely went off track but if you don't think he reached his potential in that 02-06 period then you are a harsh judge. He was excellent i thought.

As for last night - Panthers pushed numbers to him in their defensive line which lead to guys like Costigan, Taia and Houston having a lot of one on one situations where they shined and really opened the game up. Even when he wasn't going to run he positioned himself off ball to suggest he would which attracted extra defenders.

A lot of people don't look for or see the off ball things or watch the defensive line of the opposition. But i notice these small things.

He's huge, very fast over 20m, runs hard, knows how to fend, uses footwork, has a good offload and attracts 3 defenders every run. He's quality - he has more natural talent and ability than any forward i've seen apart from SBW. Mason at 100% in 02-06 was a dominant forward. If we get 75% Mason we'll have a very good forward.

All signs are there - his presence opened the game up and we looked like a top 4 team for 25 minutes.

 

[bluesbreaker]

Willie was real good in his first year at the Rooters too.

 

[Yosh]

I agree with RABK about the 25 mins Mason was on the field. After he went iff we looked like sh*t. We made Newton and Ciraldo look good. That's how shit we were...

 

[The Showstopper]

Double post.