COWBOYS coach Paul Green lost the trust his team after a couple of run-ins with senior players during the pre-season.

That’s the damning accusation coming from former Cowboys prop Willie Mason, who told Skipi TV that the leadership group no longer wants to play for him.

Mason claims North Queensland’s disastrous season unravelled before it began, with cracks emerging between coach and players in what was tipped to be a fairytale finish to Johnathan Thurston’s career.

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Round 20

“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.

“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.

Willie Mason has made extraordinary claims about the Cowboys’ pre-season. Source: News Corp Australia

The Cowboys were premiership heavyweights at the start of the season, with Fox League experts Matty Johns, Greg Alexander, Hannah Hollis, Yvonne Sampson, Lara Pitt, Andrew Voss and Jimmy Smith all making them their top picks.

With future Immortal Thurston having announced he would hang up the boots at the end of the year, and a largely unchanged roster from the one that made the 2017 grand final, it seemed a safe bet they would be thereabouts.

Instead, they are in a fight just to avoid the wooden spoon.

“It’s ridiculous because they should be in the top four or the top eight and they’re coming second last — JT deserves to go out better.”

Mason went on to attack Green’s coaching ability.

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

“It is sad because they are busting their arse every single week but it seems other teams have got their measure and I think it comes down to coaching.

“Because 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.”