El Masri on record target

parragirl · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:28 am Post subject: El Masri on record target

Under pressure ... Iconic Bulldogs star Hazem El Masri. Photograph: Mark Evans / The Daily Telegraph

By Josh Massoud | March 08, 2008 12:00am

FINDING peace when everyone wants a piece of you is not easy.

It's a challenge Bulldogs icon Hazem El Masri confronts every winter but he knows it will be harder again this year.

Sometime in the middle of the season El Masri - health permitting - will break the game's all-time point scoring record.

Even against the Centenary halo, his achievement will be one the season's best feel-good stories. El Masri needs just 135 more points to overhaul the great Andrew Johns. Given he compiles points at a career average of 10.7 a game, the milestone should fall his way before July.

But El Masri is cautious as he stands on the verge of history with kick-off just a week away.

Although he has come to embody respect in the eyes of every league fan, the 31-year-old winger detected cracks within his admiration society late last year. Carrying a secret injury to his left ankle, El Masri began missing goals. Not many, mind you, but enough to make people suspect he was human after all.

The whispers started and, soon enough, there were the same questions everywhere he went. The downside of being a people's hero is that you have to stop and answer them all.

"A lot of people were commenting on my kicking during the second half of last year,'' El Masri said. "People told me I need to improve this year, they want to know how my kicking is coming along.

"I don't really understand what they are talking about. I think I had one of my best seasons. I had 104 attempts and 55 percent were from out wide. People didn't notice that. They think just because it's Hazem, it's going to go over.''

That El Masri was criticised after notching a success rate of 81 per cent and finishing top pointscorer for the sixth time in seven years says as much about his metronomic brilliance as it does the fickleness of some league fans.

"Sometimes you find yourself answering the same questions,'' he reflected. "It's surprising the perception some people have. I don't think they understood everything. I couldn't tell everyone I had an injury. It was a bit frustrating.

"In 25 games last year, I didn't miss a kick in 17 of them. Then I miss two conversions in a couple of games and people start asking all these questions. Sometimes it's a little bit hard to put up with.''

El Masri's answers shoot straighter than his radar boot when quizzed about the impending record. He doesn't want to think about it, but finds he does just that virtually every day.

"Even when we visit schools, kids ask me how many points I have to go. It happens every time I approach a record.

"I've come close to getting the most consecutive kicks a couple of times and people were always wanting to know about it. They are always on your back, asking you.

"But this is a fair record, so I've got no problem if people want to talk about it. I've just got to make sure I don't lose concentration.''

http://www.news.com.au/dailyteleg.../0,26799,23336316-5006066,00.html

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