Then again, Penrith centre Michael Jennings, dangerman No 1 for the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League (NRL) match here tomorrow night, isn't your average footballer.
So much so, the battling Warriors will be praying for either a Jennings off-night or a monumental defensive effort at CUA Stadium to stop him wreaking havoc.
Jennings has been clocked at 4.5sec for a 40m sprint. And the 21-year-old can dash a sharp 100m too, as the struggling Sydney Roosters will attest.
Back in May, on a chilly Sydney night, Jennings gathered the ball deep in his own in-goal area, turned, propped and switched on the afterburners.
Little more than 10sec later he was the proud owner of one of the furthest solo tries ever seen in league, or rugby.
The Panthers already knew he was that good, and signed him last year to a three-year deal worth a reported $A1 million.
New South Wales quickly cottoned on, and that 109m try helped vault him into a State of Origin debut against the similarly freakish Greg Inglis.
More was to follow.
He returned to his home ground from a calf muscle injury less than a month ago to singlehandedly terrorise the resurgent Parramatta Eels.
It's not often an NRL team scores 34 points and loses, but the Eels had to bow to Jennings' brilliance as he scored a hat-trick and set up the matchwinner for debutant winger Junior Tia-Kilifi in the dying minutes.
Even the modest Jennings had to concede to reporters after the 38-34 win: "Yeah I think it's the best game I've had."
His coach, Matthew Elliott, struggled to contain himself.
"He's a fair player, isn't he? To come up with three tries and put the match-winning try on -- I would hate to be defending him.
"They must be filling their duds when he runs at them because you just don't know where he's going to go or what he's going to do, but it's going to be quick."
Eels coach Daniel Anderson labelled him the difference between the sides, a lofty description only reserved for the likes of test stars Johnathan Thurston and Darren Lockyer among them.
Jennings is a true-blue westie, born in Blacktown near Penrith and rising to stardom out of the St Marys club. He played for the Australian Schoolboys, made his NRL debut as an 18-year-old in 2007 and was Tonga's player-of-the-tournament in last year's World Cup.
Last weekend there was another hat-trick in the upset 28-20 win over the Cowboys in Townsville, leaving Jennings on 14 tries from 13 NRL matches in 2009.
One of Australia's great centres, Reg Gasnier, said it was only "a matter of time" before Jennings was tormenting the Kiwis in a green and gold jersey.
"There really isn't much missing from his game -- he's pretty much got it all," Gasnier said recently.
"He's got the pace, and he reads a game well. He's just got to learn to put it all together, and he's doing that."
The Warriors will certainly be on their guard as Jennings strides out again on his beloved home turf tomorrow.
Coach Elliott said the Panthers would front with a virtually unchanged side from the Cowboys match. Kiwis forward Frank Pritchard (broken hand) was yesterday rated highly doubtful to return, despite being named this week on an extended bench.
