The 26-year-old Samoan International is bigger than big; so big that at the recent Dragons golf day he made the Little Bay championship course look like a putt-putt green.

For his part Masoe laughs off the the hype about his size that’s followed him whole career.

‘‘One of my friends tagged me on facebook in a story saying I was the heaviest player in the comp and I cracked up laughing,’’ Masoe said.

‘‘I’m sure there’s a couple of blokes heavier than me.’’

That may be the case but there’s no denying the fact that he’ll be the biggest man to don the Red V in recent memory should he earn a spot for round one. 

It’s what prompted Dragons football manager Ben Haran to make the trip down to Kiama to visit Masoe in camp ahead of Samoa’s Four Nations clash with Australia at WIN Stadium at the end of 2014.

It was a conversation that convinced Masoe to make a return to the NRL with the Dragons after two years with St Helens in the UK Super League.

‘‘I came and played in the Four Nations last year and we came down and stayed in Kiama,’’ Masoe said.

‘‘Benny Haran came down and saw me in camp and said the club was interested in getting some bigger boys into the team.

‘‘You always want to go to a team that wants to have you and thinks you can add something to team so I was honoured to be able to come here and get another shot at the NRL.

‘‘When I played at the Roosters, whenever we played against the Dragons on Anzac Day it was a big occasion and you always wanted to play that game so I really wanted to come back to a team like this.’’

Listed at 199cm and 130kgs, Masoe is a welcome presence around a club that has long been dubbed too small to compete with the NRL’s elite rosters.

He will also make his NRL return under new interchange rules that will cut the number of substitutions from 10 to eight, a move some believe could run the big men out of the game.

While he intends to shed a few kilos, Masoe said the new rules still leave room for the big men to flourish.

‘‘It just depends on how the team wants to use you as a player, whether it’s as an impact player coming in off the sideline or as a starting front-rower who will keep going all game,” Masoe said.

‘‘I think the club’s brought me in as an impact player who can change the momentum when the game’s not going our way or to keep it going if it is.

‘‘I’m going to have to chop a bit of weight but that’s what we’re doing in training. I can see why the boys had success last year because they really work hard as a team.”