Mason signs with Melbourne Storm

DALLAS KILPONEN/SMH

STORM: Willie Mason is set to resurrect his NRL playing career with Melbourne next season.

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Willie Mason is set to resurrect his NRL playing career with Melbourne next season after agreeing to a two-year deal with the premiers yesterday.

The move will enable the 29-year-old international to become only the second player in NRL history after Scott Prince in 2001 to feature in a World Club Challenge after finishing the previous season with the wooden spoon.

The Herald was told the ''unwanted'' Roosters forward turned down approaches from Manly, St George Illawarra and Cronulla to play at the Storm under the coaching of NSW Origin mentor Craig Bellamy, who last month publicly declared he was a fan of the former representative star.

Mason must now finalise a release from the Roosters before an official announcement on his move to Melbourne is made, but that is unlikely to pose a problem. The club has made it clear he was not part of its plans under new coach Brian Smith by giving him leave from off-season training to secure a deal elsewhere.

However, Roosters officials, who yesterday appeared to be unaware of Mason's deal with the Storm, indicated they would not be prepared to massively subsidise his contract with another club - suggesting the move could cost him financially.

Mason believes Melbourne offer him his best chance to win a second premiership ring after being a member of the Bulldogs team that beat the Roosters in the 2004 grand final.

He also enjoys a close relationship with Bellamy, who coached him in the 2008 Origin series, and believes the dual premiership-winning coach can help him return to his damaging best.

Despite being linked to Japanese rugby union and a number of English clubs, Mason did not want to leave the NRL and feels he still has much to offer after a 2009 season in which his form was affected by a knee injury sustained in the previous year's finals series.

After undergoing a knee reconstruction in September 2008, Mason made a remarkable effort to return to the playing field in April but his early comeback might have cost him as he also appears to have fallen from grace with the representative selectors following his omission from the Blues team this year and the Kangaroos squad that played in the Four Nations.

He is still held in high regard by Bellamy, who praised Mason's efforts in last year's Origin series.

Mason is also a long-time friend of Melbourne five-eighth Brett Finch, who has publicly urged the Kiwi-born front-rower to consider joining him at the Storm. Finch was discarded by Parramatta last season only to help the Storm beat his former club in the grand final after joining Melbourne on a vastly reduced contract.

Mason has told friends he hopes to emulate Finch and Clint Newton, who played in the Storm's 2007 premiership-winning team after being cut loose by Smith at Newcastle.

After initially being given leave by Roosters chief executive Steve Noyce on November 2, Mason was due to commence pre-season training with the club on January 11 but instead he will do so in Melbourne after the Storm organised temporary accommodation and transport for him to make the transition easier.

The move ends a rollercoaster two years for Mason at the Roosters after he walked out on the Bulldogs at the end of the 2007 season following a bitter falling out with coach Steve Folkes and CEO Malcolm Noad.

Despite signing a three-year, $400,000-per-season deal with the Roosters and helping them to the finals for the first time in three seasons in 2008, talk of the club wanting to cut him loose started coming out of Bondi Junction in March - just two days before he and Nate Myles were stood down for breaching the club's strict alcohol policy by having a quiet beer at home on their day off.

Club officials viewed him as a bad influence on younger players, even though he managed to keep himself out of the headlines.

- © Fairfax NZ News