Hazem El Masri celebrated pulling on the blue-and-white Bulldogs jersey for the record-breaking 273rd time yesterday in the most treasured way: scoring a seemingly impossible try with millimetres to spare between the corner post, the sideline and a Wests Tigers opponent, and booting four goals, three from just inside the touchline.
All up he tallied 12 of the Bulldogs 32 points, and as usual was a critical contributor to the team's success. But El Masri's perfectionist tendencies rose to the fore in the dressing room afterwards - he said it should have been 16 points, not 12, having missed two conversion attempts, both from difficult positions on the sideline.
Still, El Masri was a very happy man having survived for 12 years in a game that tends to chew up players. But he was also a bit sad that he had finally eclipsed the appearances mark set by one of his teenage heroes, Steve Mortimer. Mortimer was on hand yesterday to congratulate El Masri.
"I felt happy and I felt sad at the same time, I looked up to those guys, 'Turvey' [Mortimer] and 'Baa' [Terry Lamb, 261 games] and to break their record was a bit sad really," El Masri said.
But the league planets aligned perfectly for the winger. It was exactly 12 years to the last day in March 1996 that he made his debut, also against the same opponents, the Tigers. But on his rookie game, El Masri remembers one thing: the Bulldogs lost. "Today was much better," he noted with a huge grin.
As a youngster El Masri emigrated from war-torn Lebanon and lived just down the road from Belmore Oval. He was immediately impressed with the incredible involvement of the local fans in supporting the Bulldogs. But El Masri was a soccer player and only played a bit of touch footy at Belmore High School until his friend Ahmed Dilaty badgered him to switch codes and give rugby league a go.
El Masri said: "He was constantly at me to try it out and I ended up playing rugby league for a year and suddenly the Bulldogs came to a game - Billy Johnstone and Garry Hughes were there and I scored a really good try. I got a phone call soon after."
Mrs Dilaty, who used to ferry her son and El Masri to training, would have been at the game yesterday, El Masri reckons. "She and the family are always at the games, they are great supporters," he said.
Coach Steve Folkes said El Masri was outstanding in many ways, but the fact he was a local junior was invaluable to the club's ethos.
"The biggest thing is that it is a local junior and it is important that the local juniors aspire to hold the record," Folkes said.
The next goal for El Masri is to break the all-time points-scoring record of 2176, held by Newcastle's Andrew Johns. El Masri says he just wants to let the points accumulate until it just happens - which should occur in the next month. And the secret to his longevity? "I just try to play consistent footy, and I play and think positively. I have been injury-free for a long time and I train hard and I believe in myself," he said.
El Masri is signed with the Bulldogs until the end of next season, and he celebrates his 32nd birthday tomorrow. He says he will keep going "as long as my body is competing".
