Bulldogs great and assistant coach Willie Mason under fire over ‘soft as s**t’ comments

Bulldogs great Willie Mason has been put on blast for his ‘unprofessional’ remarks after a controversial podcast appearance.

Bulldogs great Willie Mason (left) and current Bulldogs players (right)

Bulldogs great Willie Mason has been taken to task over comments he made over the ongoing saga at Canterbury that threatens to derail coach Cameron Ciraldo’s efforts to rebuild the club after years in the doldrums of the NRL.

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Speaking on his podcast Levels with Willie Mason and Justin Horo, Mason, who now works in the club’s coaching staff, blasted the players complaining about the club’s arduous training schedule.

The comments came amid recent News Corp reports that one Bulldogs player has walked away from the club over a training ground punishment for being barely 10 minutes late to training.

The player was reportedly forced to drop to his knees and wrestle every fit member of the squad in an exercise known as “shark bait” as a punishment for his lateness.

Willie Mason on #NRL Bulldogs training schedule article. @mase21#LevelsNetwork
Full Episode: https://t.co/bkn08nuvqtpic.twitter.com/Hdl71TBqYH

— LEVELS NETWORK (@levelsnetwork) August 29, 2023

News Corp reports that several Bulldogs players were concerned for their teammate’s wellbeing, and while there has been talk of legal action being taken, the player has since taken time off for his mental health.

“It’s f**king soft as s**t,” Mason said, referring generally to players complaining about workloads at training.

Mason went on to defend the coaching staff he joined on with in 2022 as a pathways coach.

“I hate s**t like that because I see what our coaches put together with Ciro (coach Cameron Ciraldo), to Travis Touma, to Zapp, to Chady Randall, to Bobcat (Andrew Ryan), to Ogre (Mark O’Meley), all these sorts of guys, high performance. I know what the schedule is,” he said.

“If you can’t deal with it, you’re not going to be f**king there. Because there’s high standards at the club, regardless of what’s happening right now with where we’re coming on the ladder.

“But there’s no excuses and you’ll get weeded out of the club and that’s what Ciro wants to do.”

Mason (centre) played just under 300 games in the NRL at five different clubs. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

The former superstar front-rower implored his players to buy into the “winning culture” his team are trying to build, ripping into the Bulldogs’ recent history of underperformance.

“These guys have had a losing mentality there for like five years so it’s a cultural thing, the winning and losing,” he said.

“This is a way of fishing them out. All this s**t’s getting out there, if you can’t handle the way the Bulldogs play and train, this is not your f**king club. And they’ll find out. You’ll find out, because if you’re on contract right now and you don’t happen to be on the roster next year or if they don’t want you, you’re that dude that they don’t want at the club.

“So the guys that we want there, they will be there. Players that are coming in, they’ll bring a winning culture as well.

“It’s going to take a minute but it’s the way it is, you’ve got to tough it out. It’s just the way it is and we’re all in this together.

“You think it’s f**king good watching these young kids go through these losses every single week nearly? To prepare them so well and see them so f**king shattered after the game — it’s heartbreaking as coaches. Imagine being Gus (Phil Gould) — I’m only sort of from the outside in. Imagine being Ciro. Imagine being these guys who are riding these waves with them, trying to make them better humans, better players, better everything and we’re just not coming up with the results. But we’re on that f**king wave.”

Cameron Ciraldo has been under significant pressure since moving from Penrith. Photo: NRL Photos

In light of the growing unrest at Belmore, Mason’s remarks have been labelled “outrageous” and “disrespectful” by the likes of News Corp’s Paul Crawley.

“If any other assistant at another NRL club came out and attacked his own players in this disrespectful manner, chances are they would be looking for a new job before the day was out,” Crawley wrote in a column for The Daily Telegraph.

Meanwhile, News Corp’s Phil Rothfield retweeted a post that said: “I’d be ashamed for my club and fuming if I had a son there – if a club employee involved in development like Willie Mason came out publicly tearing down a player. Ex-players can’t preach mental health if spitting rubbish under the guise of working hard.”

Sports reporter Bernie Coen was also critical of Mason coming out publicly against his players.

“Comments by Willie Mason indicate the level of professionalism (at Canterbury) - no wonder the club is in all sorts,” Coen wrote on social media.

“There are two ways of saying things. It appears Willie doesn’t have a level of vocabulary to articulate it. That attitude would turn most off the club.”

There is serious turmoil at Belmore. Pic by Max Mason-Hubers

Ciraldo’s workload demands of his players have also been at the centre of much criticism in recent days, with one reported expectation that the players be at training from 8am to 5.30pm of particular grievance with players.

A text message has reportedly circulated among the club claiming up to eight players were unhappy under Ciraldo, claiming the 8am-5.30pm demand was unrealistic.

Social media has lit up in criticism of Canterbury and how Ciraldo has handled the pressure of his first full-time head coaching role after moving from Penrith.

Originally published as Bulldogs great and assistant coach Willie Mason under fire over ‘soft as s**t’ comments