One wee lands Willie, Tupou in trouble - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

One wee lands Willie, Tupou in trouble

By Steve Jancetic 19/02/2008 07:50:13 PM Comments (0)

Trouble continues to dog Willie Mason with the prized Sydney Roosters recruit fined for urinating in a public place, just days before his first game for the NRL club.

Mason and teammate Anthony Tupou were issued infringement notices by Port Macquarie police following an incident last Saturday night in which they allegedly urinated on the side of a road.

The pair were part of the Roosters contingent which travelled to the NSW mid north coast for a series of trials against local teams, though Mason and Tupou were only there as spectators.

The incident occurred in the hours following the match, with the pair also ordered to carry out community work with the PCYC on top of their fine.

Neither Mason, who was pulled from a scheduled press conference promoting this Saturday night's Foundation Cup clash against Wests Tigers, nor Tupou, were available for comment.

Instead the Roosters issued a statement claiming the players were disappointed and remorseful regarding the embarrassing situation.

Mason and Tupou were both named in the Roosters squad to play the Tigers at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night, the match Mason's first since his highly publicised switch from the Bulldogs.

Roosters coach Brad Fittler said he was looking forward to finally seeing the Test forward in action for the tri-colours.

"I think he's a great coup for the club - obviously he creates a lot of interest with the club," Fittler said.

"He loves his footy and when his head's in footy he plays some dynamic footy.

"At the moment, he's toiling with a few niggling injuries as well along with Mark (O'Meley)."

O'Meley, who joined Mason in defecting from the Bulldogs in the off-season, was not named with Fittler saying he would nurse the veteran prop through the pre-season.

One player who won't be kept in cotton wool is Anthony Minichiello, the former Test fullback named to play his first game since being a late withdrawal from the NSW side ahead of last year's second State of Origin clash in Sydney because of back injury.

Having undergone surgery on his back for the second time, Minichiello said he was confident his comeback would be a success.

Another player on the comeback trail is Wests Tigers star Benji Marshall, though Tigers coach Tim Sheens was a little coy when asked about the Kiwi playmaker's involvement in Saturday night's trial.

"He's been doing everything tremendously at training, his defence has been great, today he was knocking over all the big guys in the club," Sheens said.

"I won't let him play unless I'm comfortable, but at this stage he's named."

Asked if that meant Marshall was in doubt, Sheens said:

"At this stage he's playing ... he's had all the clearances, he's done everything at training so he'll be playing."

Marshall played towards the back end of last season after recovering from yet another bout of shoulder surgery.

Sheens said he wasn't looking for Marshall to produce anything special when he lines up alongside John Morris in the halves.

"Just get out there and blow out the cobwebs a bit, just half a game is probably what we'll play him," Sheens said.

"With that amount of reserves there'll be limited time for some of them."

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