When the cleanest of cleanskins believes the NRL can recover from its year from hell, maybe there is hope for the game after all.
Bulldogs winger Hazem El Masri – one of rugby league’s true good guys – on Tuesday announced this season would be his last, the game’s most prolific pointscorer to hang up the trusty right boot which has served him so well.
His retirement means the Bulldogs lose a player who has almost automatically turned four points into six for the last eight seasons.
But as one of the game’s standard bearers, his loss to the NRL could be even greater.
For a code which has lurched from one off-field atrocity to the next in 2009, losing an ambassador like El Masri is a massive blow, but the man himself is confident the game can recover from the spate of incidents which have dragged it down.
And for anyone who wants proof it can be done, El Masri points to club he has called home for the last 15 years, the Bulldogs having reinvented themselves after several years as the NRL’s bad boys.
“Obviously it hasn’t been happy times, but I’m sure it’s in good hands and everything will be turned around,” El Masri said.
“There was a lot of talk about our club a few years back and in one year we’ve turned everything around because we know the foundation is right and we know that it’s only a matter of time before everything will be on the right track.”
Bulldogs great Terry Lamb, who played when El Masri debuted against Balmain back in 1996, said players coming into the league could do worse than use El Masri as a role model.
“The thing about it is he respects the game and that’s what a lot of people don’t do these days,” Lamb said.
“You can’t say enough about him, he’s a gentlemen and I’ve never heard anybody say a bad word on or off the field about him.”
The height of the Bulldogs’ dramas came in 2004 when rape allegations were made against several players following a pre-season match in Coffs Harbour.
El Masri, a devout Muslim, refused to provide DNA evidence to police, claiming he was not a suspect so why should he have to go through the ordeal.
He described it as the most difficult period of his life.
But what started out as his toughest year, ended in his greatest triumph with the Bulldogs winning the premiership and El Masri breaking the record for most points in a season with 342.
He will leave the game as the NRL’s greatest ever-pointscorer, with his current tally at 2318.
It’s a record he’s likely to keep for some time yet, with his closest challengers such as Craig Fitzgibbon (1560) and Matt Orford (1413) unlikely to play for long enough to surpass El Masri’s total.
In fact, his closest real challenger would be North Queensland skipper Johnathan Thurston, but with only 684 points to his name so far, Thurston would need to average in excess of 200 points a season for the next eight years to come close to `El Magic’.
For all the records, though, El Masri said it was for his off-field achievements that he would most like to be remembered.
“I never set my sights on breaking every single record, it came along the way,” El Masri said.
“I’ve enjoyed my footy and played in such a successful team in the last decade, they (the records) happened to fall.
“I’d like to be remembered for what I’ve done off the field as well, bringing people together and making a difference in their lives.
“I’m in a unique position and I always thank god for that position that he’s given me.
“You get to inspire people … I’d like to be remembered for that.”
© AAP 2012Age: 33
Born: Tripoli, Lebanon
First grade debut:Bulldogs v Balmain, Parramatta Stadium (round 2 1996)
NRL premierships: One – 2004NRL Records
Most NRL Points – 2,318 (154 tries, 851 goals)
Most points in a season – 342 (16 tries, 139 goals in 2004)
Most goals in a season – 139 (2004)
Most consecutive goals – 35 (2003)Bulldogs Records
Most club games – 360
Most NRL games – 305
Most points for the club – 2,478 (189 tries, 861 goals)
Most tries for the club – 189
Most NRL tries – 154
Most points in a Game – 34Representative Career
City Origin – 2001-05, 07
One State of Origin for NSW – 2007
One Test for Australia – 2002
World Cup for Lebanon – 2000Achievements
Ambassador for NSW Government’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign
NRL Ken Stephen Medal Winner, 2002
Women in League Favourite Son Award, 2009
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The Link said | July 1st 2009 @ 9:02am | Report comment
Great career Haz, an ornament of the game, the greatest goalkicker of all time, the game will be poorer for his absence.
The greatest Lebanese-Australian sportsman of all time?
True Tah said | July 1st 2009 @ 9:06am | Report comment
Haz congrats on an outstanding career. You might not have been the strongest nor the fastest wingers around, but you were definitely one of the smartest, and an amazing goal kicker and a loyal clubman. Future players could do worse than adopt an attitude similar to yours.
I only wish you had been playing for the Tahs this season, we could have used your goal kicking!!
Mushi said | July 1st 2009 @ 3:01pm | Report comment
I despise the bulldogs players for the coffs harbour incident, their management for the salary cap rort and many of their fans after being at the belt a roosters grand father game.
But El Masri has to be regarded as one of the true ambassadors for sport, humble, underappreciated, loyal and diligent.
Choppy said | July 1st 2009 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
He’s going to be missed off the field but in all reality on the field he was a goal kicker and that’s about it.
Before everyone jumps on me ask yourself this question, if he could not kick goals at his standard (which is one of the best ever goal kickers) would he have played this many first grade games or for NSW?
I’d argue no.
Andrew said | July 1st 2009 @ 3:35pm | Report comment
He is in the top 10 try scorers of all time. It’s not like he can’t play. He was never the fastest or most skillful, but like many good players, he made up those differences with determination to be the best he could be.
Loved watching you Haz, and I am sure the Dogs will win the comp to give you the perfect send off!
Brett McKay said | July 1st 2009 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
Andrew, there’s no doubting his determination or humility or anything like that, but Choppy has a point. El Masri never looked like playing anywhere other than on the wing because that was the only place he could be hidden (and there’s no other word for it). He was easily the best goal kicker I’ve ever seen; I’d liken what he could make the ball do off the tee to what Tiger Woods or Eddie Charlton could do. His ball control is/was absolutely phenominal.
Perhaps Choppy, the question might be better answered with another question: if he came along in ten years time (with the way the game is now, and is going), rather than ten years ago, how many top level games would he play??
Mushi said | July 1st 2009 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
He scored a try every two games. His general play tends to be disregarded becasue it is no where near the level of his goal kicking.
But in the end even if it was “only” his goal kicking and not the meagre 150 tries (a doggies record) so what? He was better at something which consistently impacts games than any other player he played agasint in his entire life.
The Link said | July 1st 2009 @ 4:15pm | Report comment
Nah Choppy and Brett, his defence was first rate, he was a great finisher and could even conjure up a try himself – think the 2004 GF when he had about 3 guys on him and scored.
Crosscoder said | July 2nd 2009 @ 7:38am | Report comment
Despite not being a Bulldog’s supporter,have got to say he is an absolute ornament to the game(and yes there are others).No offfield dramas,a real gentleman, a real family man ,a credit to his community,and one
who respects one and all around him.
A great finisher as a winger,fast in his younger days,a brilliant kicker of the egg,and defence well up to scratch.
I understand he will not be lost to the great code ,as he will be involved,with the NRL in community and development work.That being the case,the governing body could not have chosen better.
The game could do with hundreds of this type of true gentlemen.
Gerry Faehrmann said | July 2nd 2009 @ 7:38pm | Report comment
Fair dinkum Mushi – keep living in the past why don’t you!
The Bulldogs, to their credit, have moved on from the past indiscretions and bad behaviour!
The forward thinking and ability to change positively by both Todd Greenberg & Kevin Moore makes the Bulldogs a totally different and admired outfit.
Think about this…The Bulldogs of the past looks awfully like the Roosters today – think Mason, O’Meley, Myles – when do I stop!