Hazem El Masri of the Bulldogs in action at ANZ Stadium - AAP Image/Action Photographics/Colin Whelan
A legend of the game, on and off the field, will play his final home game today. It’s time for all Rugby League supporters to say thank you to Hazem El Masri.
To celebrate the occasion, all season ticket members of NRL clubs, as well as members of North Sydney, will be granted free entry into ANZ Stadium to celebrate the occasion.
El Masri has been one of the great ambassadors for the code and his goal kicking achievements has him ranked up there as one of the best ever. What often gets forgotten amongst the greatness of El Masri is his try-scoring ability and the fact he played 94 first grade games from 1996-2000 for just nine goals.
Critics will say El Masri is just a goal kicker, but he has established himself as one of the better finishers in the game during the reign of Daryl Halligan as the Bulldogs sharp shooter.
When Halligan retired many wondered if the Bulldogs would so easily turn four into six and along comes El Masri and he sets a benchmark higher than what Halligan did, which is a mighty achievement to say the least.
El Masri’s greatest football attributes has been his dedication and knowing his strengths. El Masri won’t run 100m to score a try, but his awareness and his ability to find the line from impossible situations is up there with the best. What El Masri lacks in speed and height, he makes up for with his speed and greatness between the ears.
Other than taking on the goal kicking duties, one of the best things to happen for El Masri was Brent Sherwin settling in as the Bulldogs halfback in 2002 and they developed an uncanny and freakish partnership that yielded many tries for the Bulldogs and even some for City Origin.
Many of the great combinations are often referred to as halves, front rowers and centres, but the Sherwin and El Masri combination ranks up there with the best. El Masri had the presence to know where exactly Sherwin would land the kick even before the ball was kicked such was El Masri’s freakish ability between the ears. It was a combination that mutually benefited both players.
El Masri has slowed up considerably in the last two years and last year, in a woeful Bulldogs side, this showed up his years quite noticeably. He was put on notice by Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore at the start of the season and was even replaced in round 5 against Souths, but has found ways to play to his strengths and muster 14 tries this season.
One more try will see El Masri become just the 5th player in premiership history in the NSWRL and NRL competitions to pass 160 tries and rank alongside names such as Ken Irvine, Steve Menzies, Andrew Ettingshausen and Terry Lamb.
For all of the El Masri’s genius and talents on the field and his service off the field, he has only ever been handed one State of Origin jersey and one Australia jumper and they came five years apart. El Masri, in his one and only NSW appearance, was the match-winner with one try and three pressure cooker goals, but his defence nullified the Queensland backline.
He was deemed as a player not suited to Origin, but in fact he had all the Origin attributes in that he eats pressure for breakfast and he’s a player that people love to watch in action for his outstanding goal kicking talents and ways he finds the try-line from nowhere.
Sunday’s game against the Warriors will be an emotional one for El Masri, the Bulldogs and the game of Rugby League in general as the game says goodbye to one of the greats and a player so universally respected.
Where does El Masri rank amongst the Bulldogs greats?
Les Johns, Steve Mortimer and Lamb are often referred to as the three best to come from Canterbury and they were quite correctly voted in the top 100 players of all-time last year as part of the Centenary of League celebrations.
Statistically El Masri certainly deserves to be ranked alongside the great trio and at worst just one notch below them. All the records previously held around the Bulldogs by Lamb, Halligan, Mortimer and Steve Folkes are now all held by El Masri. To list his points and appearance records for the Bulldogs would simply be too long to produce.
Against all the odds, El Masri has stood tall as one of the greats in the game. He came into Rugby League when he was just 17, he was graded when he was 19 and he was off and away on his career the following year. He’s defied the height and speed obsessions for wingers by purely using football smarts and his freakish awareness for the ball. He’s scored 14 tries this season and that alone warrants a first grade position not to mention his goal kicking achievements.
El Masri will be treated to a special tribute on Sunday, but as he said it’s his opportunity to thank the public for supporting him over the years. El Masri is humble and down to earth and that makes his greatness much easier to appreciate and celebrate.
I remember his debut reserve grade game in 1995 and his debut in 1996 at first grade level and it has been a pleasure to follow his career through the highs and lows and all the magic memories he has provided in the game.
Congratulations to El Masri on an outstanding career on and off the field. Rugby League needs more people like El Masri as the game would never hit the headlines for a scandal relating to drinking or violence.
El Masri might have been ignored as the face of the game, but on Sunday he will be the sole focus of what is so good about Rugby League.
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