Forty-nine games at prop for Wanganui?
No, Shaun McDonough would have laughed at anyone who would have suggested 10 years ago that he would be on the verge of a half century of matches for Wanganui as a prop forward.
Today he reaches that milestone, packing down ironically, in a position (tighthead) he hadn't played a club match in before he started at tighthead for Wanganui against King Country in 2008.
McDonough has the ability to laugh about his gradually increasing body size - one that's seen him gradually move from the midfield of the backline to No8, and then to prop. In fact it seems others have made comments about it too!
"It was probably about 100 games ago when they started to tell me to start playing prop! But no, I wouldn't have believed it if someone had told me 10 years ago I would reach 50 games for Wanganui at prop," McDonough said.
He never quite made the rep team as a No8, because there was tough opposition at that time.
"I had a muck around in a few training squads for a couple of years at No8, but that was when the Kaierau boys were strong and had Semisi Taulava etc. Basically I couldn't make it because of work, so I never progressed any further."
So how did the propping happen?
"I got a bit bigger and Ruapehu needed a prop, so I put my hand up to be a reserve on paper - and ended up having to play. That was in 2008 and I made the rep squad the same year.
"I probably only had seven or eight club games before that, and they were only half games - half at No8 and half at prop. In fact I survived that first year just on brute strength and ignorance. How I didn't injure myself, I don't know.
"I got done over a couple of times, absolutely. I got to know the backs of my legs intimately."
McDonough's relied on the propping knowledge of Ruapehu team-mates Sheldon O'Hagen and Kim McNaught, former Wanganui prop Darrell Hoskin and former King Country frontrower Ray Parr for advice as he's gone along.
Now he and his forward mates face their toughest challenge of the year. McDonough says Wairarapa-Bush are the hardest opposition faced so far this year.
"It was the sorest I've been after a game for the past two years."
That sums up the challenge today.
"We've got all the bits of the puzzle," says McDonough, "it's just a matter of whether we put it on the park. And there's no next week if we don't get it right this week."