Irresponsible Fox and NRL Trying to Cause a Fight
Willie Mason has his demons. And a good sense of humour. But allowing himself to do the dirty work of FOX is surely a dumb idea that even he can see through. He certainly went out of his way to start a fight, and the Dragon’s didn’t might. To their credit.
Not how The Terrorgraph’s resident Angry Ant saw it…
IT was revealed last year when Willie Mason was miked up for Fox Sports and there, on TV, committed murder in broad daylight and nobody seemed to notice.
Willie was at Newcastle at the time but in the market for a new club and, still his own best negotiator, he stood at a scrum and asked the Dragons pack when they were going to “get some decent forwards”.
“Look at youse,” he said.
He did everything but spit on their shoes.
And the Dragons’ pack copped it.
Willie Mason dished out a brutal, unanswered sledge last time he faced the Dragons.Source: Getty Images
Some even giggled, not even realising that Willie was neutering them on pay television.
Most of the conversation afterwards centred around Willie’s sledge and the wonderful sense of humour of the guy, and what a great insight into the real world conversations that take place on the field.
The Dragons had no idea he was miked up, though, so their response was genuine.
And what got missed in it all is there was a time when there would have been no greater insult from one pack to another. Even nowadays, when aggression cannot be so outright, any half-decent pack would have vowed, individually and as one, to put Mason in his place.
The Dragons said nothing and simply kept about the business of not offending anyone.
Now they are in a small crisis.
The “Oust Doust” bedsheet has been unveiled at Kogarah several rounds earlier than its annual timeslot and a war has opened on a new front, with the hashtag #SaveOurSaints rippling through Twitter.
More than most, Dragons management knew the seriousness of this after moving and making a serious commitment to the digital side of its business several years back, even though the real muscle will be in established media for some time to come.
It might be all that saves a few key jobs now.
So the club responded on its website on Friday under the rather sterile headline “Dragons Business Update”.
That’s what it is? An update?
“The Board and Management also understand,” it read in part, “that the conjecture about the Dragons Business Plan, transitional financial management to sustainability and profitability and overall Governance structures, have also been receiving criticism.”
What is that? If the Dragons truly believe that was a satisfactory answer, a collection of corporate jargon designed more to confuse the reader than inform, then they are a lost cause.
Thankfully, coach Paul McGregor is a straight talker.
And one thing McGregor has to be certain of is that he has inherited a roster with almost no wriggle room and with all the money spent in all the wrong areas.
While the problem is obvious the solution is more difficult.
The Dragons need to go through their roster with a flamethrower.
Roster management is the most under-appreciated skill in the game. More clubs get it wrong than right.
Today’s irony is the Dragons are paying a price for partly responding to the demands of fans, the same fans raining down on them now, to retain many of their favourites even if it meant paying above market rate.
Turning around a poorly managed player roster takes time. And understanding.
When Penrith announced a five-year plan in 2012 to get the club right, most sniggered. It got worse when incoming coach Ivan Cleary decided early to move along the club’s two best players, Michael Jennings and Luke Lewis.
Penrith finished 12th the season before but three seasons later Cleary got them to within a game of the grand final and most agreed it was the coaching performance of the season.
What most have overlooked is that over those three seasons Cleary has hung on to just two from the original 25-man squad he inherited.
The same season Cleary arrived at Penrith, Canterbury made the grand final.
It was also some turnaround for the Bulldogs who, four seasons earlier, finished with the wooden spoon.
Coaches need to turn over their roster and they need time.
Ricky Stuart started the same process at Parramatta, telling half a dozen players in 2013 — some still under contract — to start looking for new clubs the next year. He knew he couldn’t win with them.
Brad Arthur is reaping the benefit of that now, with the room in the cap created by Stuart allowing him to buy the likes of Anthony Watmough and Kieran Foran.
The Dragons are bloated on inflated salaries and the problem is many are mid-contract, making it expensive to move them on.
But that is not McGregor’s doing and it can’t be done overnight.
As for the toughness of the forwards, that’s all on them.
