FROM the Newcastle Rugby League wooden spooners to the National Rugby League champions that is the remarkable transition former Newcastle Knight Luke MacDougall is poised to complete.
MacDougall, who has not played in the top grade for more than two years and spent most of this season with feeder club Lakes United, is understood to have agreed to terms with newly crowned NRL premiers Melbourne.
Storm football manager Frank Ponissi said yesterday that the deal had not yet been finalised, but The Herald has been told the club will announce on Monday that MacDougall has signed a one-year, incentive-based contract.
The Storm see MacDougall, who has played 60 NRL games and scored 36 tries, as a cut-price replacement for departing backs Steve Turner (Bulldogs), Will Chambers (Queensland Reds) and Joseph Tomane (Gold Coast).
"Hopefully in the next week or two we can come to some arrangement," Ponissi said yesterday.
"If it does come off, and we think hopefully it will, we've lost quite a bit of experience in Will Chambers and Steve Turner and, to a lesser extent, Joe Tomane.
"We've got some good young kids coming up in our under 20s [who won the National Youth Competition], and we've signed young Chase Stanley from the Dragons, but other than that we're inexperienced in the outside backs.
"To get a player of his experience and ability is probably exactly what we need, especially given the price we hope to get him at."
MacDougall was believed to be earning close to $250,000 a season with the Knights but may have to accept a $50,000 sign-on fee with Melbourne, plus match payments.
He has not played in the NRL since June 10, 2007, when he ruptured his triceps against Wests Tigers in just his second appearance for Newcastle.
MacDougall had limited bargaining power but apparently still had several clubs interested in him.
His brother Adam said his sibling had "a couple of opportunities to consider" but favoured Melbourne as the best option to resurrect his career.
"I think in Luke's situation it's not so much about money as a chance to reach his potential," Adam said yesterday.
"Obviously Melbourne have a great backline and there could be some opportunities there with a couple of blokes leaving.
"They've been in the last four grand finals, so there is probably no better place to play as an outside back.
"And Craig Bellamy is a coach who has proven he can get the best out of a player, and I know he has always had a big opinion of Luke's ability."
The Herald could not contact Luke yesterday, and Adam said his brother was away on holidays.
The youngest of four MacDougall brothers, 27-year-old Luke joined Newcastle mid-season in 2007 after gaining a release from the Dragons.
He played just 11/2 games before snapping his triceps, an injury that twice required reconstructive surgery and painstaking rehabilitation.
He made a comeback midway through this year for Lakes and eventually played in six games, scoring nine tries, including four in one game.
But it was not enough to convince former coach Brian Smith to offer him a recall, even when Newcastle had an array of outside backs injured and unavailable.
Meanwhile, Adam hopes to know by the end of next week whether he will play for Newcastle in 2010.
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