Wendell Sailor's been around long enough to know an old dog's bite is much worse than Mad Dog's bark.

"No comment, I'll let my football do the talking," Sailor said as he made his way off the field following St George Illawarra's training run in Wollongong on Monday.

Sailor had just been alerted to a newspaper article in which old foe Adam "Mad Dog" MacDougall had opened up the war of words ahead of Saturday night's NRL meeting between the pair at Kogarah's WIN Jubilee Oval.

Nothing was off limits with MacDougall targeting Sailor's "five chins" and general footballing ability - "he can't even pass the ball both ways," the veteran Newcastle winger claimed.

Ten minutes passed and Sailor re-emerged from the dressing rooms.

There's no keeping International Dell away when the tapes start rolling.

"I'm really surprised that Mad Dog's playing, he usually has a couple of weeks out doesn't he?" Sailor said in a pot shot at MacDougall's history of injury troubles.

"I don't know if he's played 100 games yet, he's been around that long.

"Hopefully he plays, it's always a good battle between me and the Mad Dog."

Ah the Dell.

What about MacDougall's desire to switch over to the left wing so the old sparring partners could mark up against each other on Saturday night?

"A 100 per cent, yeah," Sailor said when asked if he would endorse the change.

"I think the young winger (Akuila) Uate would be more of a handful than Mad Dog.

"We always have a good battle - we had good Origin battles, good Newcastle-Broncos battles and last year he chipped me a little bit too and we got the points then so I'm pretty sure we'll get the points again this week."

The Sailor-MacDougall battle is one that has been waged on and off for the last 13 years. It kicked off in the NRL in 1997, reached its crescendo in Origin football, and even spread into the green and gold when the pair ran out as teammates for Australia.

Through it all, the barbs have flown thick and fast.

Sailor still had few up his sleeve though.

Asked who would have the edge if it came down to a race for the ball between the two 30-something wingers with receding hairlines, he said: "I'm not sure - we're both pretty powerful.

"I haven't really seen Mad Dog in space, I see him make half breaks, that's about it."

Thanks Wendell. And just how was your Easter?

"I didn't want to enjoy the Easter eggs too much because I don't want any more chins and with my big arse you know.

"I've cut back on the chocolate and made sure my football does the talking."

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