By Leesa Ronald

Matt McDougall’s rugby career has seen him swap states, countries and even codes, but his paths have always somehow veered back to Gordon – a club that Matt thinks is ready for another long-awaited tilt at the title.

It was never predetermined that Matt McDougall would be the proud 200 plus cap Highlander he is today. His Dad played for Easts but when 10 year old Matt decided it was time to pull on the boots, he ended up at Gordon feeder club Lindfield, “probably out of convenience for Mum and Dad.”

After an adolescence spent playing club and schoolboy rugby at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, Matt made a snap decision to try his hand at rugby league.

“The HSC had just finished and a mate was trying out for the North Sydney Bears Jersey Flegg team,” explains Matt.

“I had nothing else to do so I said I may as well try out with him, and I ended up making the team.”

It was an eye-opening year for the 18-year-old who’d spent his school years floating around the backline playing wing and outside centre, playing alongside the likes of a young James Maloney.

“From a contact perspective, it was a massive step up but it was good for me,” says Matt.

But McDougall’s heart was still in rugby and he returned to Gordon the following year to play colts.

In 2008, Matt made his grade debut – starting in thirds, before shuffling up to the starting Highlanders XV.

2008 and 2009 are now remembered as the glory days in the Gordon camp – they played finals football two years in a row after finishing the regular season in second place in both years.

Matt and teammate Tobius Gukibau are the lone survivors from those sides and while the following years weren’t as successful for Gordon, Matt’s rugby journey took off.

He spent four weeks training with the Western Force in 2008 to get a taste of professional rugby but concedes he probably wasn’t quite ready for the intensity of the constant eat-train-recovery cycle.

However a few years later in 2011 when an opportunity to play rugby for the El Salvador club in Spain popped up, he grabbed it.

“I would definitely recommend the experience for any Shute Shield players on the cusp of making it to professional rugby, who for whatever reason can’t get that start in Super Rugby,” McDougall said.

“It was a great experience, not just for the rugby but for the travel, culture and the lifestyle that comes with it.”

So much so, when the itch struck again five years later in 2016, he hopped on another flight and spent a season playing for another Spanish club near San Sebastian. Between training, siestas and sangria, it wasn’t a bad life.

Now back at Gordon, Matt reckons the Highlanders are due for another finals tilt.

“We gained some good momentum late in the season last year, knocking off Norths at home and we’ve recruited pretty well for this year too, creating the depth we have probably lacked previously.”

It pains McDougall to say it, but he thinks Gordon’s key to success this year will be the tried and true clichéd combination of “wanting it more” and “working harder”.

“A few years back there was a probably a bit of a stigma that surrounded Gordon being not as mentally strong as other sides and that we’d eventually fold in the tight games,” he said.

“We’ve definitely turned that around and with even luck on the injury front I can’t see why we can’t be contesting the big games at the end of the season.”