NRL 2023: Staff member Willie Mason slams ‘soft as s***’ Bulldogs players
Canterbury staffer member and club legend has launched a scathing attack on Bulldogs players expressing anger at being trained too hard by coach Cameron Ciraldo.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Canterbury legend Willie Mason has launched an astonishing and withering attack on Bulldogs players who have controversially expressed anger at being trained too hard by coach Cameron Ciraldo.
“F…ing soft as s..t,” Mason roared.
Mason, who played 148 NRL games at Belmore between 2000 and 2007, brutally told the complaining players to either harden up, leave or face being sacked.
Canterbury is running third last on the NRL table, having won just seven of 23 games this year.
It comes as a player, who cannot be named, left the club in disgust five weeks ago and has not returned.
Due to his lateness for training, the club forced him to wrestle more than a dozen players as part of his sanction.
Mason, the Bulldogs pathways transition coach, lashed the players in the Levels podcast, along with former player Justin Horo.
“F…ing soft as s..t. If you can’t deal with it you’re not going to be f…ing there. If you don’t want to be there, you’re not going to be there,” Mason said.
“I hate s..t like that because I see what coaches put together like ‘Ciro’ (Ciraldo), Travis Touma (head of performance) ‘Zap’ (Steve Turner) Chaddy Randall, Bobcat (Andrew Ryan) Ogre (Mark O’Meley), high performance. I know what the schedule is.
“There’s no excuses and you’ll get weeded out of the club because that’s what ‘Ciro’ wants to do.
“These guys have had a losing mentality there for like five years. It’s a culture thing, winning and losing. This is a way to fish them out. If you can’t handle it, the way the Bulldogs play and train, this is not your f…ing club, right? They will find out.
“Because there’s high standards at the club regardless of what’s happening where we’re coming on the ladder.
“If you’re on contract right now and you don’t happen to be on the roster next year, and they don’t want you, you’re that dude that they don’t want at the club. The guys that we want there will be there.
“Players that are coming in and going to bring a winning culture as well. It’s going to take a minute but that’s the way it is. You’ve got to tough it out. We’re all in this together.
“You think it’s f…ing good seeing these young kids go through these losses nearly every single week? To prepare them so well, to see them so f…ing shattered after the game. It’s heartbreaking as coaches.
“Imagine being Gus (Phil Gould)?. I’m only on the outside looking in. Imagine being ‘Ciro’, someone who is riding this wave with them, trying to make them better humans, better players.
“We’re not get the results but we’re on our f…ing way.”
HOW BULLDOGS RESPONDED TO PUNISHMENT CONTROVERSY
Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo has doubled down on his tough training load firing a warning shot to his players that they can either work hard or leave the club.
He also conceded that some players might not be happy with his regime.
“There are obviously people who don’t want to buy into what we are doing,” Ciraldo said. “I don’t think it’s a great amount of people.
“If there are people that don’t want to work hard and don’t want to tick every box to win NRL games then they don’t have to be here.”
Ciraldo’s methods have come into question after a player quit the club having been subjected to a physical punishment after being told he was late to training.
The player thought he had attended training on time but regardless he has claimed he was made to wrestle more than a dozen players as part of his sanction.
The Bulldogs and the RLPA are investigating.
Ciraldo would not be drawn into the incident.
“It is a pretty sensitive issue,” Ciraldo said. “I won’t be commenting.”
“Some of that’s been monetary related, some of it’s been spinning a wheel and then some of that’s been trying to find ways to change behaviours.
“The reality is we need to change behaviours here, and I think we’ve done a good job of that throughout the season.
“And I feel really sorry for the fans that we are where we are.
“It doesn’t seem like we’ve taken steps forward this year on the same wins as last year. We definitely haven’t taken steps back.”
GUS GOULD
Bulldogs head of football Phil Gould said the club had been waiting on medical reports concerning the player and revealed that he had continued training after the incident for a week before asking to take leave.
“This is one of those where, as a club, we need to be very measured in our response, because there are some very sensitive matters at stake here,” Gould told the Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“It’s just too sensitive to be giving details about what did or didn’t occur, or what effect that’s had on anyone that was involved.
“There are some exaggerations and some embellishments, but to even debate those issues is unnecessary at the time.
“We’re certainly very mindful of the mental health and welfare of the player involved, and there is a lot of sensitivity around that.
“It’s not as though he walked out after the event, he was still with the club for another week and then decided he needed to take some leave, and he’s been doing that.
“We’ve been waiting on some reports from medical people which we now have in our possession. My suspicion is that details of that report have been leaked out in some way, shape or form, which is why the media has now suddenly seized upon the story.
“Our priority is the welfare of the player, it’s as simple as that.”
Gould also backed Ciraldo amid claims that the head coach was pushing the players too hard.
“Cameron Ciraldo has at all times defended his coaching style and the type of training that we’re doing at the Bulldogs, and we all support that wholeheartedly,” Gould said.
“No one has walked out, I can tell you that. No player has complained to us at the club about anything around training or culture.
“It’s good to know now the public understands how hard we work, because at times when you watch us play you would wonder whether or not we did.”
NRL RESPONDS
The NRL has asked the Bulldogs for a please explain.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo confirmed he had contacted the club to seek further information.
“We have reached out to the Bulldogs to establish what has occurred,” Abdo said.
“I won’t make any further comment until we have all the facts.”
PUNISHMENTS
Punishments for minor offences are common within clubs. They range from lighthearted penalties such as shaving your head to monetary punishments. A “goose of the week” T-shirt used to be common place at every club. However, this Bulldogs player felt a line was crossed.
“We’ve gone through a range of different ways in terms of holding standards,” Ciraldo said. “Some of that is being monetary, some of it has been spinning the wheel. Some of it has been about changing behaviours. The reality is we have to change behaviours here.
“We’re trying to drive standards. We want to have winning performance standards. A lot of that is about individual responsibilities. We have to hold those standards.”
SCUTTLEBUTT
Rather than shy away from his tough love, Ciraldo has openly challenged his players. The first year coach has no intention of backing down from his perceived hard edge. Instead he has told his players to suck it up or leave.
Ciraldo has heard the whispers about growing discontent in the ranks – specifically around the length of some training days – however he said not one player had ever raised concerns with him.
“We’ve been losing,” Ciraldo said. “Clearly the culture is not exactly right. The system is only one part of the result of the weekend. The main part is the culture. That’s something we’ve worked hard on. We’ve uncovered more of that culture and reasons why we are where we are.
“Nothing comes without hard work. We have one long day a week. If you get the last massage you’re probably leaving at 5:30pm. The days are longer at the place I was previously.
“It’s all rumours and text message rumours. No one has come to me and complained about long days. We have a Flegg group that come in here and do weights at 5am and then go out to work for 10 hours and then are back on the field at 5:30pm in the afternoon. That’s a long day. The way those guys are going about their business, they are showing us they are future Bulldogs. That’s who we are going to build this club around.
“It’s hard to address those rumours because no one has said anything to me. We have a leadership group that we meet every week. You’d like to think if there was some sort of unrest it would get brought up but it hasn’t been brought up.”
LESSONS LEARNT
Ciraldo joined the Bulldogs on a five-year contract after being anointed as the next big prospect in coaching following a successful stint as an assistant at Penrith. The changes he has made have not equated to results though with the Bulldogs having won seven games – the same amount as they did last year.
“We know what success looks like,” Ciraldo said. “We have a lot of people buying into the process. “My last job I had 10 years coming through the grades with the group and I knew them inside out.
“To create those relationships in eight or nine months, it’s taken longer to build that trust than I probably imagined.
“I feel sorry for the fans for where we are where we are. It doesn’t seem like we’ve taken steps forward this year…we haven’t taken steps back. It’s helped us navigate where we are going in the future.
“We know where we are going. If you’re willing to work hard and make sacrifices and stick to the winning standards, come with us.”
MOTIVATION
The Bulldogs fabricated quotes which were attributed to Newcastle players and coach Adam O’Brien to try and motivate his group ahead of their clash three weeks ago. The Bulldogs were still smarting from their 66-0 drubbing at the hands of the Knights just weeks earlier when they stuck up the fake quotes inside their Belmore dressing room.
“We are trying to tick every box to try and motivate our players to get a performance and do everything possible to help us win games,” Ciraldo said.
More Coverage
Originally published as NRL 2023: Staff member Willie Mason slams ‘soft as s***’ Bulldogs players
NRL live: Roosters set for late boost with key inflictor cleared
The Roosters are set to receive a massive boost ahead of their must-win semi-final clash against Manly, with Victor Radley poised to make a shock return from injury. FOLLOW LIVE.
Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Why AFL will never take over Sydney
The Sydney numbers that AFL won’t want to talk about, how much the Dolphins are paying Wayne Bennett at the Bunnies, and Hame Sele’s first steps in comeback, in Saint, Sinner, Shoosh.