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Newcastle Herald

National

BARRY TOOHEY

Knights' call to arms to honour Klemmer's milestone game

Family first: David Klemmer's world revolves around family and footy with the Knights prop spending any free time away from rugby league with his wife Chloe and three boys, Cooper, David and Jaxon.

It's a milestone Adam O'Brien reckons should come with added GST.

David Klemmer chalks up 150 NRL games on Saturday but the figure doesn't do the big prop's achievement justice according to the Newcastle Knights coach.

"It's not just 150 games, it's 150 games in the middle, taking the toughest carries you can take,"O'Brien says.

"There were 26 of them from him last weekend with Klem playing massive minutes as well. And that doesn't take into account the extra defensive work-load.

"So 150 games, he can add some GST on top of that because of where he plays. There is a big difference in playing 150 games when No.8's on your back to most other positions."

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If you hadn't already gleaned, O'Brien is a huge Klemmer fan and the feeling's mutual. It's probably because they share such similar philosophies when it comes to footy.

Hard work, meticulous preparation, body on the line, leave nothing in the tank. O'Brien preaches those virtues every day. Klemmer lives them every day.

"It's a credit to him how he prepares. He looks after his body as well as anyone I've ever seen in the game,"O'Brien says.

"His weight, it just never fluctuates, never. He is that diligent with his preparation and his routine. He just leaves no stone unturned in terms of preparation. But I guess the biggest thing I love about Klem is his performance, win or lose, is paramount to him. He owns it. He feels the losses as hard as anyone and just loves contributing to the team."

O'Brien says the onus will be on "the rest of us" not to let Klemmer down against the Warriors in Tamworth.

"The rest of us have to do our bit to make it a memorable occasion for him because we know Klem is going to give us absolutely everything because that's just what he does every single week," O'Brien said.

The admiration for the 26-year-old, who has also played 19 Tests for the Kangaroos and 14 Origin games for NSW, doesn't end with the coach. His captain is also in awe of the Knights' pack leader.

"He's an absolute champion and what a great career he's had. He's one of the great props we've had," Mitchell Pearce said.

"I love playing with him, he protects you as a halfback. You love playing behind guys like that who have always got your back. They'll run all day for you and hold the middle and he's been doing it since he was 18."

You love playing behind guys like that who have always got your back.
Mitchell Pearce on David Klemmer

As for the man himself, Klemmer, whose life revolves around two things - family and footy - says the only regret about his milestone game is his family won't be there to share in it.

"I play for my kids and their future so it's a bit unfortunate the boys [Cooper 7, Jaxon 5 and David 3] can't come up for the game but that's the way it is," he said.

"They'll be watching and I'll get to see them when I get home anyway so that'll be good."

Klemmer says looking after and respecting his body is a big part of his daily routine to protect his career.

When he started at the Bulldogs as a teenager, he was around 116 kgs, which blew out to as much as 123 kgs at one stage.

"In my final year at the Dogs before coming up here to Newcastle, I was around 118-119 but now I'm always 113kgs," he said. "I'm looking after myself better and as you get older you learn things. It's been good, my body has been really good this year because I've been really conscious of looking after myself."

As for Saturday's milestone, Klemmer is just hoping it is fourth time lucky after he finished on the losing side in his debut, his 50^th and 100^th NRL games.

"That's not a good record is it," he said.

"It would be nice to win one of these milestone games, especially this one now that I'm here with the Knights. It would be good to repay the club as well with a good performance. That's going to be the plan."

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