I'd take him tomorrow if it meant Fielden left aswell.

If it was a choice of Graham or Mason over Fielden then it is an easy call but where Fielden is for 2010 is out of our hands as he is contracted to us and is unlikely going to be wanted elsewhere at least on nowhere near the same wage.

On the Fielden topic he along with Joel Tomkins and Feka are players i look forward to seeing under a new coach.

Without sounding harsh Bailey out Mason in would make perfect sense to me.

Bailey may be a great influence on the squad and have all the experience in the world but he has an injury we do not know he will recover from any time soon and we need a big nasty meter maker.

I am willing to take baggage for an enforcer Prop, it to be fair usually goes hand in hand.

As if some people are saying no to Willie Mason! Were crying out for a prop exactly like him!

Fieldens would need a dab just at the sight of this thread.

There's a reason that 2 clubs have got rid of him.

i agree also, although he won't be the only knob isn't the best argument for signing a player

The same was said about Gleeson.

My thoughts on the matter of misbehaving RL players is that to be a great player you need to be a bit of a knob, extreme confidence. So the nature of such people will result in problems away from the pitch. Im in no way condoning some of the stuff reported but would you prefer SL and the NRL to be full of Paul Wellens clones.

A move over here may do him good. Away from the media limelight in Aus.

It depends on what style of coach our new man is.

Authoritarian coaches like Brian Smith and Foulks always try to stamp down on big characters, Brian Smith is famed for it and Foulks handling of SBW highlights his attitude.

We are desperate for a big character for mine, if me have a coach willing to manage him, you will have 1 hell of a player on your hands.

maybe if we get enough disruptive influences, they'll have nothing to disrupt and they can get on and play some good rugby!!

I don't think it would be a good idea TBH he would be over here for a holiday yet I would be gutted if another team signed him.

Don't know how you make that assessment considering the Riddell's, Smith's and Carney's etc that IL has targeted/signed.

Plus Lenagan is a massive fan of Willie Mason, he said so in a direct quote when asked about him when Mason claimed Wigan were in for him. (we weren't, Mason was trying to get more money from NRL clubs).

Seems pointless discussing big names atm though unfortunately as according to the man with the moustache, we have no money left as hard to believe as it is.

If we could get him without upsetting the wage structure too much (obviously he'd have to be a high earner) we'd be daft not to go for him.

Trust me he isn't, particularly after his visit to Australia.

I seem to remember him being one of the players being discussed and then IL coming out with a statement that alluded to him being warned off by Murray and Bennett.

That's correct.

I know

There are plenty of English players in SL that act the prat off the field to the same or worse extent as Mason has/does...the only difference is that they do not play in the NRL and are not amongst the most effective players in the world so the media cound not care less.

I would be over the moon if we signed Mason and i think our chances of a trophy would increase significantly.

Look at Long at Saints, Hanley at Wigan, Bradley at Bradford all massive characters and in different ways disruptive characters but all gel a team and enhance it.

We need more noise and aggression, we need more characters, anyone who comes with his size of justified rep on the field is always going to have a reputation off it.

Fair enough then - his opinion was obviously changed by something.

Cough, Wayne Bennett, cough, cough...

To be fair every player we looked at over there seem to have been warned off by Bennett and Murray.

We are never going to sign perfect player in his prime from Australia, the rep rules ensure this is the case, so when a world class player becomes available every now and again you have to take the plunge, in spite of his baggage.

Yes thank you smart but in what way did Bennett change his opinion?

Have you all seen him this year? He is nothing like the player he once was. However, if a change of scenery got him back to his old standards, then he is defo worth a risk.

I'm very quickly changing my tune on the James Graham rumour.

Probably nothing but still curious that I've now had 3 seperate texts within the last couple of hours saying Graham is on his way to Wigan next year as well as a respected member of this board saying St Helens are looking to offload him.