KEY POINTS:
"Big Willie's" latest antics have sparked widespread calls for his sacking from the Aussie test team.
Willie Mason's harassment of a female radio reporter at Sydney airport on Sunday night sparked an inquiry by the Australian Rugby League, and Mason - by then in the hands of minders - quickly apologised to defuse the situation.
It appears the ARL is not taking any further action, at least publicly.
Radio talkback and letters to the editor from fans plus the columns of league journalists meanwhile run hot with criticism of the 1.95m, 115kg Bulldogs and Kangaroos forward, who yesterday placed a media ban on himself, refusing to talk to reporters at Kangaroos training.
"The only way to get it through to him is to drop him," wrote one correspondent to the Brisbane Courier-Mail, a common theme in letters that describe Mason variously as a neanderthal, a loser who had taken too many knocks to the head and as an unstable, irresponsible buffoon.
League writer Ray Chesterton: "If there is something juvenile to be said, some childish outburst or lewd action to be done, Willie has proved repeatedly that he is the man for the job."
Mason has had lots of second chances, at club, state and international level. Riding a public bus back to State of Origin camp after an alcohol-fuelled night at a brothel in May 2004 might have brought a heavy sanction, you'd have thought.
Personally, I lost respect for Mason when he ran from a cab fare - an over-paid footballer thinking it's a joke to deprive a working family man of his dues.
Last word to an Aussie letter-writer: "Isn't he a Kiwi? [Mason was born in Auckland]. Send him back there, if they'll have him. They have standards."