Canterbury Bulldogs legend Willie Mason has taken aim at the players supposedly criticising coach Cameron Ciraldo’s coaching regime, labelling them “soft”.
Mason, who joined the club last year as a pathways transition coach, was fired up over the recent drama surrounding his side following revelations about unrest at the Bulldogs.
“It’s f–king soft as shit,” Mason said on the Levels Network podcast.
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“I hate shit 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.
“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.
“These guys have had a losing mentality there for like five years so it’s a cultural thing, the winning and losing.”
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Mason added the high standards being driven at the club, as outlined by Ciraldo on Wednesday, are a way of ensuring the right players are in the system.
“This is a way of fishing them out. All this shit’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,” he said.
“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.”
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Among the drama at the Bulldogs is news that a player allegedly walked out of the club after being made to wrestle a number of players as punishment for arriving late.
Bulldogs general manager Gould confirmed on Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus podcast that the player had taken leave due to mental health reasons but said it happened a week after the wrestling incident.
Speaking on Wide World of Sports’ Freddy & The Eighth, rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns stressed that punctuality is a non-negotiable in the professional sport environment.
“Being on time is one of the most important things,” he said.
“Being on time, being prepared, having the right gear, knowing what your role is, turning up ready to go, you’ve got everything in check, you’ve drunk water, you’ve slept well, you’ve eaten … got to be on time, you have to be on time.”
Fellow NRL legend Brad Fittler also revealed he was once dropped to reserve grade at Penrith for being late.