SYDNEY - Former Kiwi Daryl Halligan, who is closing in on one of rugby league's major milestones, says it will be business as usual when he steps out for the Bulldogs against Parramatta on Friday night.
Halligan is just 14 points shy of breaking former Eels great Mick Cronin's record forthe most first-grade points in the 93-year-old National Rugby League premiership.
Cronin set the mark of 1971 in 216 matches between 1977 and 1986, a golden period for Parramatta when the club won all four of their titles.
Halligan, who was a member of the Bulldogs champion side of 1995, scored 14 points against Sydney Roosters last Sunday to take his tally to 1958 from 221 games.
While others have been talking to him about the record in the past couple of seasons, Halligan said the prospect of breaking it had not occupied his mind too much. "We've got Parramatta on Friday and I'll just go out and do what I normally do," he said yesterday.
"If [the record] comes along, it comes along. If it doesn't, it might the next week or the week after," Halligan said. "I won't be taking anything for granted."
Halligan, a former Waikato rugby fullback who became a league winger and went on to play 20 tests for the Kiwis, was not sure what eclipsing Cronin's mark would mean to him until it occurred.
It was not something he set out to do when he switched codes and signed for North Sydney in 1991.
And he was not prepared to get involved in the tipping competition the Bulldogs have organised on when it would happen.
"I don't want to put any more pressure on myself.
"Besides, it's a team game," he said.
But Halligan, whose weekly practice routine includes 80 to 100 kicks at goal, admitted that he had another milestone in his sights - 2000 points, which he believed was achievable this season.-NZPA
