"Crazy" David Hall.
He started as a schoolboy loosie on the side of the scrum, flirted with the No8 position at the back before finding a foothold as a hooker in the Southland Stags rugby squad.
Sounds crazy?
It certainly does but that's not why the initiated in ITM Cup's southernmost province have dubbed forward David Hall "Crazy" although some will argue it perhaps detracts from the attributes of a bloke so pliable.
According to Stags media wallah Mark Wilson, the nickname stems from the way he runs on the paddock.
"It gives a fair indication because his head [sways] from side to side. It's ungamely but it works okay for him," Wilson says of the 33-year-old who should chalk up his 100th game for the Stags when they host the Hawke's Bay Magpies from 7.35pm at Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill, on Thursday.
The third-placed Stags share identical statistics with the Magpies on the lower-tier Championship table on 20 points but have an inferior points differential on the for-and-against columns.
Into the penultimate round this week, before the playoffs from October 18, the second-placed Magpies will desperately want to clinch winning points if they are to secure a home semifinal.
With their final home game against Premiership leaders Wellington at McLean Park, Napier, the following Thursday night, the prudent will argue this will be the crucial roll of the dice in the jostle to regain Premiership bragging rights.
Conversely, Southland will challenge Ranfurly Shield holders (Premiership) Counties Manukau - who Canterbury should soften up quite well in Christchurch this Sunday - in Pukekohe the following Friday.
Championship front-runners Tasman Makos, on 22 points, have a sterner test at home against Waikato tomorrow night before an away clash against Taranaki before a more do-able Manawatu Turbos at Blenheim.
But first things first for the Stags, who came from behind to pip franchise rivals Otago Razorbacks 38-32 in the southern derby in Dunedin at the weekend.
If veteran prop Jamie Mackintosh's 100th match was the catalyst in the last round then Hall's one will do just fine on Thursday.
"Jamie's a true southern man so it was great for him to get there [last Saturday] so I'm rapt for him," says the sports co-ordinator of Southland High School and an old boy who has "great memories" of his five years as a pupil, too.
"It'll be nice to run for my 100th in front of the home fans and my mum [Robyn] and dad [John] will be watching, too," he says but is mindful the Magpies are "a tough side who have been going well".
Last season, the fourth-placed Championship side thumped Hawke's Bay 35-7 as the visitors were demoted from Premiership.
"Hawke's Bay have some good guns and they gave North Harbour a whipping [55-10 in Napier on Sunday]. If we're not in the right head space and start looking ahead at the shield match they'll beat us."
The versatility of Hall, a 1.86m, 109kg player, extends to cricket, too, as it did for Magpies All Black fullback Israel Dagg.
Ex-schoolmate Wilson points out he was a better cricketer than a rugby player.
Hall laughs and agrees: "I probably was when I was younger but cricketers didn't get paid as much money as rugby in those days but I still love my cricket."
In hindsight, the former hard-hitting top-order batsman reckons if he had wind of the lucrative IPL he may have stayed with the summer code.
Not one for running between the wickets for singles, Hall preferred to clear the rope.
The Pirates Old Boys (formerly Eastern Hawkes) player is also co-coach with ex-Stags teammate Matt Saunders.
He had no intentions of playing this season after returning from a stint with the Northland Taniwhas last winter.
But 130-plus match veteran hooker Jason Rutledge's misery this winter reignited Hall's prospects of hanging tough again between provincial props.
"Jason got injured, so sadly he missed out but for me it was another opportunity to jump in and make the most of it," says Hall, originally the third cab off the rank, behind Rutledge and Fiji's Talemaitoga Tuapati before assuming the mantle of No1 hooker.
For the young man who dared to rake in 2002, due to a dearth of his species there, the gamble seems to be paying off.
"It's a bloody long time ago now but a couple of hookers had got injured so I was a loose forward who had a go at No8 but got struck down with injuries. I did it [switched positions] pretty quickly but I wouldn't advise too many youngsters to do that." Hall has 39 caps for the Highlanders (2005, 2007-), slipped on the jersey for the Crusaders once (2011) and made it last season into the Hurricanes' Super Rugby matrix but didn't run on to the park.
Ironically the grand nephew of ex-All Black and Southland legend Les George has shared the spoils with Rutledge at provincial and Super Rugby level and last winter made way for Brayden Mitchell (who has crossed the floor to Waikato this season) and may have perhaps carved up his 100th milestone earlier.
"I also like to think both of us [Rutledge and I] competed and had to work hard to get starts in games so I have no regrets about that at all," says the man who had many suitors from other provincial unions in his career but playing for the Stags and the Highlanders was paramount.
"You don't have to play all the time but when you get the chance to get on the park that's when you want to make a difference," says Hall, explaining he went to Northland last year to help ease the Southland union's debt crisis incurred mostly due to defending the Log of Wood.