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News recently of Willie Mason considering an offer from Super League club Hull KR in England got me on edge that the North Queensland Cowboys will let him and go and regret it for years to come.
Back in 2007 when Willie Mason declared that he wanted to leave the Bulldogs, I thought straight away that this was a player the Cowboys desperately needed.
Since the loss of inspirational forward Paul Rauhihi in 2005, there had been no go-forward, nor as many offloads as our little men would have liked.
Before the start of the 2008 NRL season I was texting into the local newspaper to put my opinion across that the North Queensland Cowboys would regret not signing ‘Big Willie’. The replies I received were negative with many people believing he would be a waste of a buy as his off-field antics would bring a bad image to the club.
Indeed when news came of Willie Mason signing a three year deal with the Sydney Roosters I was very disappointed, and ‘surprise surprise’, the Cowboys did not make the finals for the 08 and 09 seasons.
So when the opportunity arose that Mason wanted to leave the Sydney Roosters, this was a second chance for the Cowboys that they could not let slip through their fingers once again.
It made my day when the news I had been wanting to hear for years of Willie Mason signing for the North Queensland Cowboys finally happened.
Now this season for the Cowboys has been anything but good. However, a shining light has been the form of Mason. He has been a standout in a lacklustre Cowboys side this year, and always one of the top performers each game. Throughout this season he has averaged over 13 runs and 116 metres per game.
Furthermore, there’s stuff many fans do not see during the game, like always being the first person to congratulate a team member for pulling off a good play, or also encouraging a fellow teammate to keep his head up after making a mistake.
You can see in his eyes that he wants to win every game, week in week out, and these are the type of players you want in your team.
So with a full pre-season under his belt imagine how impressive Willie Mason could be for the Cowboys next year?
Therefore I am hoping just like many other fans that the Cowboys are able to agree to a deal with “Big Willie” to sign him for future seasons.
As for our chances of getting back into finals football, it depends on having players with attitudes similar to him.
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