Bulldogs better off without Willie

In 2005, George Peponis handed Willie Mason and Braith Anasta contracts. On one condition. First to bring it back with a signature would stay at the Bulldogs, the other would go away.

How Peponis must wish things went differently.

The three years since have brought little success, with the Dogs suffering a paucity of talent in the halves. While the forwards battered their way to some wins, none of those victories were significant.

Mason may be a senior Origin player, but it�s Sonny Bill that has become the barometer of this team.�2005 was a blank year while Sonny Bill nursed an injury. 2006 was far better as Williams enjoyed a fuller season.

Willie? This season he played fifteen games and missed the rest. The Bulldogs had a better winning percentage when he wasn�t there.

Mason�s brashness may have made for terrific copy, but it was oil to the Belmore water. The Bulldogs were the family club. Insular. Us against the world. For 70 years, it worked. Bulldogs teams didn�t berate opposition sides in the media. Bulldogs teams didn�t lead preliminary finals 20-6 at half time, only to fold.

The culture changed.

Not for the better.

Now an extra $450,000 per season has suddenly popped up. The first time since the salary cap rort the Bulldogs will have money to spend. The forwards will be weaker, sure, however with Nick Kouparitsas and Jon Green crying for more responsibility, the gap may not be as momentous as Mason apologists think.

If Mark O�Meley hadn�t left, the difference may have been negligible.

The fact is Willie didn�t want to be there. Clearly. Who wants a player whose mind is elsewhere? The Dogs could have played hardball, could�ve forced Mason to play in England for the next two years. But the club is over it all. Stopped caring. Supposedly the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The club has fallen out of love with a player who was quite effective, but not to the level that justified the baggage.

The Bulldogs will be better off.

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