Newcastle Knights veteran Adam MacDougall sets the record straight
Barry Toohey
August 22, 2011 12:00AM
ADAM MacDougall is sorry to disappoint us.
Sorry to have to expose another myth about one of the NRL's great characters. We desperately wanted to bring you the exclusive. The inside scoop.
The real reason why, at the age of 36, the man they affectionately call Mad Dog, can still make defenders 15 years his junior look second-rate with a step or swerve.
Why when most NRL players his vintage are two, three, four or even five years into a well-earnt retirement, he's still out there palming off Father Time.
We wanted to reveal the secret behind his longevity.
A mystery concoction, perhaps.
Some sort of youth elixir or batch of imported miracle supplements that stop young legs from turning into old legs.
The special diet that keeps his body-fat percentage the lowest at the Newcastle Knights and on a par with his ultra-fit captain Kurt Gidley when a lot of blokes his age have love handles on their love handles.
Something. There has to be something. But we drew a blank.
"There's nothing, sorry," MacDougall tells us as the Knights build up to tonight's big game against Brisbane.
"There's been plenty of stuff made up about me over the years. Most of it's pretty funny and still gets a laugh.
"As for special diets or miracle supplements that are keeping me going, they don't exist."
The fact is, MacDougall, who will retire at the end of this season, doesn't see himself as anything special or out of the ordinary. Age, he says, is just a number.
"With my wife away on business a fair bit, I can wake up most mornings and it's like I'm 18 again. I'm single and feeling good," he says with a laugh.
"Then I look in the mirror and see the bald head and realise I'm not as young as I used to be."
So what about his diet. When did he last have KFC, for instance?
"You're probably not going to believe this but Kurt and a few of the other boys will vouch for it," he says.
"My after-game eating ritual is McDonald's. After every game, I have four cheeseburgers and a large fries. It's the only thing I feel I can eat. Don't ask me why.
"If we've played away from home, I've been known to go through the drive-thru at midnight after we've got back to Newcastle.
"And on the morning of most games if I can, I'll have Maccas' pancakes. I really like them.
"There you go. The cat's out of the bag. There's something factual people didn't know about me."
Generally, MacDougall reckons he eats well and is blessed with a great metabolism.
"But I'm not obsessed and never have been about what I eat," he says.
The myths
THIS one has been told before but is worth telling again.
Probably the most famous story, and the one he is continually asked about, centres around him allegedly talking to his thighs and psyching them up in the dressing room before a State of Origin game.
"Blame Matty and Andrew Johns for that one," he says.
"It dates back to a trial we had in Tamworth in '97 when I was forced off with cramps.
"I remember saying when I came off something along the lines of 'I can't believe my legs have let me down by cramping up'."
Next thing you know, the Johns boys got hold of it and all of a sudden I was having a conversation with my legs after the game, telling them they'd let me down.
"Then Tommy (coach Raudonikis) grabbed it and ran with it at Origin time.
"The funniest part of that story is how many people actually think to this day I talk to my legs before a game."
His own man
MacDOUGALL has never shied away from being his own man.
He has been vocal at times about how he should train, insisting no one knows his own body better than he does.
Road runs, for instance, were never his go and he did whatever he could to get out of them.
In the early 2000s, he told coach Warren Ryan he didn't need to do them because of the wear and tear to his body, and he reasoned he was fit enough.
One day at training, Ryan told him he could get out of doing them if he could prove his fitness by winning six consecutive 400m races against the rest of the squad.
"I've never run so fast in my whole life and I won every one of them, even though Matty (Johns) did everything in his power to stop me," he said.
The routine
WHEN it comes to routine, there has never been anyone like him.
It's where the "Mad Dog" tag originated and the legend began.
In the early days when teammates were knocking back an ice-cold Tooheys in the dressing room after a game, the well-educated centre attracted curious sideways glances by forcing himself to drink a protein shake or Gatorade instead. Or he would go home after games instead of to the pub, tip ice in his bath and hop in before having a hot shower.
"A lot of the boys used to think I was mad with some of the things I used to do because no one else did it," he says.
"Now it's what everyone does. Ice baths are the norm and we've got shakes and supplements coming out our ears now.
"And road runs? Who does them anymore?"
MacDougall is not a big alcohol fan but he doesn't touch a drop during the season "because it doesn't do anything to help you recover or perform".
He is big on stretching and massage, and teammate Jarrod Mullen has introduced him to the benefits of acupuncture.
"Stretching was something I never really got into too much until after I turned 30, but it makes a big difference,"he says.
As for what he does on game day, MacDougall, Mullen and teammate Richie Fa'aoso share one ritual. An hour before kick-off, they alternate between the ice bath and a hot shower.
"It gets the blood pumping and maybe it wakes up the old bones. I don't know," he says.
The career
BARRING the Knights defying the odds and winning this year's title, MacDougall will retire having won two premierships with Newcastle, the first 14 years ago. There are also the 11 Tests for Australia and 11 State of Origin games for NSW.
Last weekend Darren Lockyer set a record for the most number of NRL games (350).
MacDougall is into his 16th season but a wretched run with injuries has left him just shy of chalking up 200.
"The fact I haven't played as many games as I would have liked is probably the reason why I am still playing now," he says.
"I've had to come back from some pretty serious injuries and I'd like to think I've shown plenty of character and resilience at times to get back on the field.
"That's the positive way I look at it and you won't ever find me complaining about the career I've had. I've really been blessed."
The future
HIS immediate goal is to help the Knights play in another final series.
When it's all over, he hopes to stay involved with the club, just not directly in football operations.
"I've come up with a concept that relates to community health and wellness and I've put a proposal to Nathan Tinkler's Hunter Sports Group which I'm really excited about," he says.
"I know Nathan's really keen on looking after the community and making a real impact locally.
"And I've come up with a number of programs the Knights and Jets can get involved with that I think will make a big difference to the health and well-being of people in the Hunter.
"I'm hoping to stay involved with this new project."
