But as he prepares to take on his former club today in Gosford, the Newcastle centre insists there is no lingering resentment over his exit from Redfern.

"I've had a million people ring me this week and try to beat it up," MacDougall told The Sun-Herald.

"The irony of the whole situation is that, when I look back on my career, they are some of the best times I've ever had.

"After everything I've done, being able to play with my brother [Luke] at Souths is probably my most enjoyable period of football.

"It was a great adventure, really fun. Obviously we weren't as successful as we would have liked, but it was a great experience. There were some really fun times, a lot of laughs, and I wouldn't swap it for the world.

"It was a fun time and I got to play with some great blokes and great characters. There aren't half the characters in the game that there used to be and Souths had more characters than most clubs put together.

"To play with some of the guys at Souths was great. It was disappointing when I moved on but that's footy.

"Not too many relationships end well, do they? It would have been great if things finished on a better note but it wasn't to be. It was out of my control but I definitely had a great time when I was there."

It's no secret that MacDougall and Souths co-owner Russell Crowe fell out at the end of his stint at the Bunnies. In his first game against the former club, the man dubbed "Mad Dog" mimicked Crowe's infamous phone-throwing incident in a cheeky post-try celebration. However, the veteran centre insists there is no bad blood between the pair.

"The way that Russell has gone about putting money into that club and the amount of time and effort he puts into it, it's a credit to him," MacDougall said.

"They have been successful in a lot of regards and he's obviously got a dream to build them into a top-flight side. It's a lot of hard work but they're obviously moving in the right direction."

Asked if he was preparing another post-try celebration, MacDougall replied: "I haven't really thought too much about that, it's too early in the season.

"I probably need a bit more time to think about that. I don't think so. Some people might have taken it the wrong way but it was just a bit of a laugh for the boys."

Having knocked back offers to play rugby overseas, MacDougall has set a few goals to achieve before he retires. The 33-year-old is just 10 tries away from overtaking Timana Tahu as the Knights' highest tryscorer and could crack the 150 appearances mark if he has an injury-free season.

"My focus is for the club, but there are a couple of little club records which I wouldn't mind putting my hand up for," he said. "I'd like to leave a mark on the history books at the club before I leave.

"There's a couple of milestones I'll achieve playing for the club this year. When I leave, hopefully I'll have a bit of an influence on the career of the younger kids, which would be a good thing to look back on when I've left.

"Hopefully there's a few that will play rep footy. That's a pretty rewarding goal, to help the younger kids reach their potential. That would give me great satisfaction."