Ex-Cowboy roasts Paul Green

Former Cowboys forward Willie Mason has ripped into North Queensland coach Paul Green for the disastrous 2018 season the club has endured, saying the playing group has lost faith in their leader.

The Cowboys sit 15th on the ladder this season with four wins, just one more than the bottom-placed Parramatta.

North Queensland made it to the grand final last season and big things were expected for their 2018 campaign, especially with Matt Scott and Jonathan Thurston returning to the side, and the latter entering his final year.

Former Kangaroos and NSW forward Willie Mason feels that he knows why the team is struggling this year. He speculates that the problems started to arise for Green and the team after he was out drinking with the players prior to the start of the season.

“I heard he had a couple of run-ins with some players on the piss, and they don’t really like him doing that and mixing with players,” Mason said on his show #Unfiltered on Skipi TV

"Just all these little things have been building the last three or four years and it’s come to an end.

“I think something went really sour in the pre-season, which pissed a lot of the leadership group players off, and obviously they’re just not turning up for him … they’ve still got six or seven Origin players and Test players in their side, it’s ridiculous.

“They came out of the blocks pretty s--- and they haven’t played any decent football so for a bloke like JT to go out this year and for them to play so bad, something’s gone wrong internally.

Mason also wondered why the Cowboys would re-sign Green to a three-year deal, thus making him the most capped coach in club history.

The ex-forward said it was no surprise the team had dropped off, especially after rival teams started to work out the way they played the game.

“You can’t keep playing the same plays for three or four years and that’s what they’ve been doing, and then giving the ball to Jason Taumalolo who’s just an absolute wrecking ball but he can only do so much.”

“I can honestly say if I was getting coached by Paul Green I wouldn’t give a s---, I wouldn’t play for him.”