He ditched Paroa and moved back to Tauranga Sports this season to get more time in the front row, so it's slightly ironic James McGougan's first start in the Baywide premiership in four years was at lock.
McGougan was thrust into the second row for Sports' fourth round clash with Te Puna at Maramatanga Park after injury and illness ravaged the forward stocks and lasted 60 minutes before being replaced, although not before scoring Tauranga's second try as they turned a 14-7 halftime lead into a comfortable 31-21 win.
McGougan left Bay of Plenty to play for Otago last season in the ITM Cup, after a couple of seasons struggling with lingering back issues that forced him to drop out of the Chiefs Super Rugby selection frame.
But he's back, fully paid up after the funding debacle that almost sent Otago rugby to the well, and reckons he's semi-fit and is keen for more time in the front row to prove his fitness for a possible tilt once again for the Bay of Plenty Steamers.
"I've still got aspirations but I'm taking this year as it comes.
"I'd love to put on a Steamers jersey again but I understand Bay has got props around so if it doesn't happen that's all right."
McGougan played for Paroa last season before moving to Dunedin but said the problem with sticking with the Whakatane club was that he tended to play all positions.
"I was tempted to start with them again this year but I'm keen to scrummage and train a bit more as a prop rather than playing No 8 or at second-five, which is where I would have ended up, so it was a bit of a shock today to play almost the entire game at lock. I was rusty as all hell and hoping I would get replaced.
"I heard someone say there was 19 minutes to go and thought I could probably get through that, although I was stoked to get replaced because it's my first proper canter since last year in the ITM Cup."
McGougan's try, a 15m burst to the line, broke an early 7-7 deadlock at Maramatanga Park after Whanauhou Peita scored for the home side and Phillip Togotogorua replied for Tauranga Sports after space created by influential midfielder Jeremy Cave.
It was a litmus test for Te Puna to check where their season was at.
They got a resounding pass mark for a clinical opening 20 minutes but were outplayed by a more aggressive and direct Tauranga Sports for the rest, with Sports setting good targets and making space out wide as they cantered to a 31-7 lead through the boot of Lewis Hancock and Nick Evemy and tries to Dan O'Rourke and Nick Thomson.
The spark that went AWOL for 60 minutes returned in the dying stages, with Lance MacDonald and Aaron Motutere crossing for consolation tries.
McGougan has been back in Whakatane since mid-September and revealed he did it tough down south for a multitude of reasons.
"My fiancee was still studying in Whakatane and couldn't transfer anything to Dunedin. It was a good place and good blokes but it's not the Bay, not home and that's what I missed.
"My fiancee would text and say it was 21 degrees and sunny back home, and I'd be in Dunedin and it'd be frickin' negative something and snowing.
"It was hard watching the Bay play and I couldn't even bring myself to watch the first couple of games of the ITM Cup. When I did sit down and watch the Steamers I just got too homesick."
McGougan had not pulled a Tauranga Sports jersey over his 120kg frame for four seasons and said plenty had changed.
"We were pretty much a pack of clowns back when I played. Now everyone is professional and focused, listening and understanding the game well, which is good and bad.
"We seem to have lost a bit of the bond we had within the team because there's not as many social boys who like to get in and have a few beers and a laugh." Meanwhile, Te Puke Sports' 89-5 demolition of Waikite kept them at the top of the premier division while Rotoiti also continued their unbeaten run with a hard-fought victory over Opotiki at Emery Park.
Whakarewarewa moved into third with a 46-10 win over Rangataua, leading by just three points until they cut loose in the last 12 minutes to run in five tries.
Mount Maunganui posted their first win of the season, 42-17 over Greerton Marist.