NRL: Mason heading for the door at Roosters

The decision to cut Willie Mason from the Roosters was made before Brian Smith was appointed coach but just where the human headline will play this season remains a mystery.

Mason was signed by the Roosters in 2008 for a reported $400,000 a season partly, it seems, to get one over rivals the Bulldogs.

While he made an impact in his first season with the club, good enough to command a spot with the NSW Blues and Australia, the 29-year-old second-rower has fallen badly out of favour and they are now trying to offload him.

He was put on "extended gardening leave" until January 11 so he could find a new club but his future is still uncertain.

Various stories have linked him with a possible switch to rugby union in Japan and the Queensland Reds, joining the French-based Catalans Dragons or Welsh-based Crusaders in the European Super League and even signing a two-year deal with the Melbourne Storm. He's also been linked to the Newcastle Knights but they deny interest in him.

Those moves all came to nothing. He has also been linked in the past to a switch to American football.

There is a very real possibility Mason could end up playing with feeder club Newtown in the second-tier NSW Cup competition if nothing is sorted out.

The Roosters appear reluctant to pay out the final year of his contract in case another NRL side snap him up in the second-tier salary cap.

The board reportedly don't want Mason at the club as they cultivate a new culture. The perception is he has been a toxic influence on the younger players and that he undermined Brad Fittler last year.

"I seriously doubt he will be playing first grade for the Roosters," captain Braith Anasta said in a blog for The Daily Telegraph yesterday. "But I'm sure he'll play first grade somewhere and I wish him all the best."

Smith won't comment on the situation and Roosters chief executive Steve Noyce told the paper: "Willie and I have spoken about his involvement here and the opportunities that may have been elsewhere. How that plays out, I'm not sure."

Mason spent eight years with the Bulldogs following his first-grade debut in 2000 and has gone on to play 188 NRL games. He has played in 13 Origin games and 24 tests for Australia.