League: The Kangaroo that bounced back

When Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes recently touted Willie Mason as a potential Kangaroos captain, there weren't too many sniggers in league circles.

It was a suggestion that would've sounded preposterous less than 12 months ago. Mason was the bad boy of league whom many said was wasting his immense talent through his actions off the field.

In the space of 12 months in 2003 and 2004, for example, he racked up $41,000 in club fines, including $25,000 for using recreational drugs. As a joke he signed an autograph for a child using someone else's name and was one of a number of players who left a sexually explicit message on the phone of a girl they didn't know.

It was hardly surprising, then, that he was often the first name mentioned when a player misbehaved, like after the 2004 Coffs Harbour sex scandal.

Fast forward a few years. He's not only the most damaging forward in the game but he's also reinvented himself as a leader on and off the field.

"I suppose it is nice [to be flavour of the month]," Mason admitted while in camp with the New South Wales Origin side this week. "Things are going good - it's the most enjoyable time of my career."

At 26, Mason approaches life and league with more maturity and he identified the seven months he spent on the sidelines last year with a foot injury as a defining time.

"Time on the sidelines makes you think a lot more," he admitted. "It makes you really cherish the game. If you're playing in rep sides and winning a grand final one minute and the next minute you're out for seven or eight months it gives you a good reality check."

The transformation of Willie Mason was put to the test recently when he was racially taunted at a McDonald's restaurant in Sydney's King's Cross. Mason bit his tongue.

"I could have easily hit the bloke because I had every right to," Mason said at the time, "but I was just a bit smarter and told him he was an idiot and should have a little bit more respect for people."

Respect is probably all that Mason has ever craved. Even as a child, his mother has said he just wanted to be liked by his peers. It was also revealed in 2004 that he suffered from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and was taking Ritalin to deal with hyperactivity, impulsive behaviour and lack of concentration.

Mason has always been considered a player of immense talent and the Clive Churchill medal he won for a man-of-the-match performance in the 2004 NRL grand final was reward for a powerful season.

After missing most of last season, however, he was selected for the Tri Nations out of loyalty but performed like a player who was underdone.

This year he has recaptured his form of 2004 and has been a driving force behind the Bulldogs' impressive form. He was also man of the match in the Origin I, won by the Blues 17-16, and even donated his $2000 winnings to charity.

Although he said "the only thing I can control is playing footy", gestures like this certainly help to change people's perceptions of him.

The big second-rower is also close friends with Kiwi Sonny Bill Williams and is something of a mentor.

"I give him a bit of advice," Mason explained, "but I don't like to get in his head too much because he is a pretty mature man for such a young age. I'm sure he listens to me," he joked.

"I've got no doubt Sonny will become one of the best players in the world, if he stays injury free. The world is his oyster."

The world, it seems, is also Mason's. It seems now he's ready to taste it.

State Of Origin II
Wednesday, 10pm (NZT), Suncorp Stadium


Queensland

Karmichael Hunt (Broncos), Brent Tate (Broncos), Justin Hodges (Broncos), Steve Bell (Sea Eagles), Adam Mogg (Raiders), Darren Lockyer (Broncos - c), Johnathan Thurston (Cowboys), Petero Civoniceva (Broncos), Cameron Smith (Storm), Steve Price (Warriors), Carl Webb (Cowboys), Nate Myles (Bulldogs), Dallas Johnson (Storm), Shaun Berrigan (Broncos), Chris Flannery (Roosters), Sam Thaiday (Broncos), Jacob Lillyman (Cowboys).

New South Wales

Brett Hodgson (Tigers), Matt King (Storm), Mark Gasnier (Dragons), Timana Tahu (Eels), Eric Grothe (Eels), Braith Anasta (Roosters), Brett Finch (Roosters), Willie Mason (Bulldogs), Danny Buderus (Knights - c), Brent Kite (Sea Eagles), Steve Simpson (Knights), Nathan Hindmarsh (Eels), Andrew Ryan (Bulldogs), Luke Bailey (Dragons), Mark O'Meley (Bulldogs), Steve Menzies (Sea Eagles), Craig Wing (Roosters).