Willie Mason

[Danish]

Top buy this year, and really led the Newcastle forwards into gaining some respect.

Lets just hope he can handle a Knights-style mad monday without falling back into his old ways

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Mason isn't 33 till April next year. Price, Petero, Wiki and Menzies are good example of guys playing on well past their 30's. Difference between Hindy and Mason is Mason is a lot better athlete naturally than Hindy. When Mason was in his prime he was one of the most athletic forwards in the comp despite being one of the biggest. Even with a decline in speed and athleticism with age he's still as athletic as most guys his size

Top post! Even at 32, Mason is still demonstrating good acceleration and lateral movement.

I remember hearing Mark Geyer talking about when he retired in 2000. At the time he was planning on going around for another season. Phil Gould sat him down and showed a compilation of clips from early in his career and then clips from 2000. The focus of the clips was the difference in Geyers speed between the two eras. After Geyer watched the clips, he said instantly that he was going to retire.

As you said AD, Mason still possesses athletisism that many other current front rowers don't have.

 

[Packy]

Mason could play for another 13 years and still be more mobile than some props at the end of their career... Geddes, Brad Thorn etc.

 

[BranVan3000]

Buy of the year Everingham

Minimum wage, our highest try scorer and ensures Talanoa is not in the team. Win, win, win.

 

[Danish]

Buy of the year Everingham

Minimum wage, our highest try scorer and ensures Talanoa is not in the team. Win, win, win.

Keeping Talanoa out of the side is worth its weight in gold, but his tryscoring has been pretty god damned average the last 4 months

 

[Cammo]

Best Buy in my opinion - Des Hasler

 

[Lucky Roy]

Keeping Talanoa out of the side is worth its weight in gold, but his tryscoring has been pretty god damned average the last 4 months

Average generally gets the job done when Inglis and Merritt are in the line-up. Back on topic, Mason went OK early on the other night but didn't see much of him in the second half. Was he hurt? Or just MIA? Because that's what his problem has been over the past several years. That and absolutely no fear factor, as he had when he was younger.

 

[Tom Shines]

Definitely.

Don't mind going on record saying that I hated Mason and like a lot of fans thought he was a massive tool.

But seeing him come back, run as hard as ever, show so much emotion and joy on the bench, and be a funny prick on the field has endeared me to him.

The clincher was the warm hug he shared with Farah after the first game back after his mother's passing was a beautiful moment.

Well done Mase.

 

[Charlie124]

I thought he was close to the Cows best forward when he played for us(2010)

You and just about every Cows fan mate, Mason wasnt just our best forward in 2010, he was just about our best player. I gained a shitload of respect for him that year when our team were playing like geniuss and showed some real ticker and got stuck in, even though he was only there for a year and probably knew he wasnt going to be there the following season. He had no connection to the club, no reason to try harder than the blokes around him and no reason to really care about how we were travelling.

His form this year has been great for the Knights, but i wouldnt describe it as surprising.

 

[beave]

^agreed. I got a lot of respect for him in the way he conducted himself on the field for us, he was probably our best player in 2010.

Though off field up here he was a bit of a distraction for the younger impressionable guys from all reports (partying in town during the week)

 

[Rainbow]

Mason has been good value, but buy of the year goes to Inu. Good goal kicker and he's won us two games from field goals already this year.

This!

And does Mason look good because the rest are so poor?

 

[Bring it home Knights]

You and just about every Cows fan mate, Mason wasnt just our best forward in 2010, he was just about our best player. I gained a shitload of respect for him that year when our team were playing like geniuss and showed some real ticker and got stuck in, even though he was only there for a year and probably knew he wasnt going to be there the following season. He had no connection to the club, no reason to try harder than the blokes around him and no reason to really care about how we were travelling.

His form this year has been great for the Knights, but i wouldnt describe it as surprising.

Yet there was still a lot of Knights fans on this forum, who up until his signing were saying that he hadn't offered anything for years and would be a bad purchase. Go figure :roll:

 

[Bring it home Knights]

This!

And does Mason look good because the rest are so poor?

The better a teams forward pack goes, results in other forwards within that pack looking better. This is due to other forwards being able to do quality hit ups after the other players gained some momentum in attack.

I highly doubt that Mason looked impressive this year based on other forwards playing poorly.

 

[aqua_duck]

Mason could play for another 13 years and still be more mobile than some props at the end of their career... Geddes, Brad Thorn etc.

Think of some of the forwards that are around Willie's size (or even smaller), guys like Jason King, Weyman, Galloway, Snowden, Tim Mannah, Brent Kite, etc. All are around the same size as Willie and younger than him but in terms of mobility I'd say Willie atleast matches if not exceeds all of them.