The man behind the 200-game machine: No Maccas for six years and the day Cam McInnes told a Sharks staff member to change their number plates

If ever there was a story that gives insight into the method behind the machine that is Cronulla captain Cameron McInnes – who notches 200 NRL games on Saturday night – this is it, writes DAVID RICCIO.

Cameron McInnes plays his 200th game this weekend. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

When the annual fan backlash starts over players laughing after losses and joking with the opposition, remember the story you heard about Cameron McInnes.

If ever there was an insight into the method behind the machine that is the Cronulla captain who notches 200 NRL games on Saturday night, surely this is it.

Earlier this season, McInnes arrived at PointsBet Stadium when suddenly, something caught his eye.

“I had just arrived at training and I saw a car with St George Illawarra number plates drive into the car park,” McInnes, who played 91 games for the Dragons, said.

“It had been happening for a couple of weeks and I wasn’t sure whose car it was.”

Sharks media and content producer and Saints fan Mitch Karadinovski was oblivious to the impact that owning personalised Dragons number plates could have.

The offensive number plate. Picture: Supplied

“I was like, how could you do that?

“And so then I found out it was Mitch and I said to him, you can’t be bringing that in here.

“So he went and got them changed.”

Karadinovski confirmed: “I went home that night, jumped on the Service NSW website and spent $190 getting them changed.

“It’s a funny story, but in all seriousness, it speaks to exactly the type of character Cam is. I’ve got nothing but respect for him.”

Diligent, dedicated and committed to doing everything possible to surpass his opposition, McInnes arrives at 200-games with a work ethic that sits somewhere between obsessive and desirable.

His past and present coaches love him, just ask former Dragons coach Paul McGregor and assistant Shane Flanagan and Craig Fitzgibbon, who the latter first spotted in a NSW Origin camp in 2021.

“I remember saying to him, ‘I’m not sure where I’m going to end up coaching (in the NRL), but when I do, I am coming for you,” Fitzgibbon said.

“He was phenomenal, just with intensity and preparation.”

All effort, heart and unrelenting desire to win, the 30-year-old, who is averaging close to 60 minutes per game, once put himself on a six-year ban from McDonalds.

“I was always strict with my diet,‘’ McInnes said.

“It was probably a bit ridiculous. I ate nothing that I deemed unhealthy for a good six years.

“Fast foods were gone. I didn’t eat McDonalds at that time.

“It goes back to when I was at school and an NRL player would pay our school a visit.

“I wanted to play NRL so badly, that if I heard an NRL player speak about the foods they ate, I took that as gospel and I took that into my career.”

Having achieved 200 first grade games, spanning across South Sydney (39), Dragons (91) and Sharks (70), McInnes says that only in the last few years, has he begun to understand the importance of balance in his career.

“You can get robotic and not play as well,‘’ McInnes said.

“A lot of players will tell you that you can go too far.

“Even now, I’ve got that personality of wanting to do more, but I need to try and remind myself to enjoy it because it’s so cool what we do for a job.”

Despite once playing for the Dragons, McInnes now has contempt for the local rivals.

However, ask McInnes about his belief in the Sharks’ premiership claims, despite being discarded as pretenders by many, and once again, his eyes sharpen.

“I’ve got huge belief in this team,‘’ McInnes said.

“Outside perspective is merely outside.

“All I would say about that is, the Sharks of the past have done enough to dispel that sort of narrative.

“But some of the challenges we’ve had this year, the games we’ve played, the personnel changes and some of the things we’ve been able to accomplish, it’s stuff that only a few teams would be able to handle.

“We’ve also had a couple of losses this year that have undone some good work in other people’s eyes, so that’s part of it.

“I still think we don’t get the respect for what we have been delivering on the field and from an internal point of view, I’ve got all the belief in the world.”