Willie Mason in action for the Knights. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: The Daily Telegraph
WILLIE Mason is two types of leader. Kind of a Pied Piper.
When he is happy, he naturally assumes the lead of any group and he becomes the kind of leader every coach needs at a club.
If he is not happy, all the young kids will still gravitate to him, only Willie then has a tendency to take them all left when the coach wants them to go right.
We saw that at the Bulldogs and Roosters when Willie fell out with his coaches and a large group of young players sided with him.
He can destroy the environment of a football team, but he can also make it. He needs to be happy and comfortable at a club, and with the coach, and that is why we're going to see football out of Willie we haven't seen for some time. I like everything I have seen about Willie this season already.
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As good as he was last year for the Knights, he'll be even better this year. A big change at Newcastle over the off-season has been the signing of Beau Scott and Jeremy Smith.
Both are no-nonsense types and genuinely tough.
In other words, they know when to call Willie's bluff.
They know his character and they're more than happy to let Willie be himself until the time he puts his toes over the line, at which point they quickly pull him into line.
It's basically an extension of what Wayne Bennett began when he brought him to the club last year. Bennett's role with Willie shows the influence of coaches.
I coached Willie with Australia. He was great for the team but it was also clear early that I couldn't put up with all his nonsense. As strong a leader as he was, he needs a strong leader himself. He gets that in Bennett.
When Willie was first linked to the Knights a lot of people questioned why they would bother and some wondered how Bennett could handle someone like Willie, with the baggage that came with him.
Some of Bennett's closest friends even wondered why he was so keen.
In many ways, the way Willie had played throughout his career went against every principle Bennett stood for as a coach. He was coming back from a stint overseas which was totally unnecessary and entirely self-inflicted, which is part of the riddle of him.
But Bennett was smart enough to see beyond that, to what made Willie work.
Firstly, he has a lot to like for a coach. He is big, has good ball skills, and has footwork.
Bennett also knew the key to Willie. He had to like you as a coach. If they don't like you they don't trust you, and they won't respect you.
If that's not there then you're wasting your time as a coach because the players won't go to the line for you.
Once that happens then you'll never get the best out of the player and the team will inevitably suffer.
Bennett understands that.
I tried to get Willie myself once, when I was coaching the Sharks. Despite his problems elsewhere, I was confident he would respond in much the same way he is now.
The talks were all top secret. Neither of us wanted anybody to know. One morning he was coming around to my house for a chat and my two boys came running inside.
"Hey dad, Willie Mason has just pulled up out the front in a big yellow Porsche," one of them said.
That was Willie, undercover.
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