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Alex Johnston needs three tries to draw level with Ken Irvine’s try-scoring record, and four to set a new mark.
Irvine played with North Sydney before he finished his in the early 1970s with Manly, and Bennett, 75, said he never actually got to watch Irvine play.
“I wasn’t a Sydney guy, I remember as a kid I’d listen to the radio all the time, and I loved listening to the football from Sydney, I heard them call him on the radio,” Bennett said.
“He was a magnificent finisher, that was the era of those type of wingers – they didn’t have to do hit-ups like they do today, and catch as many high balls as they do today.
Greg Inglis and Cathy Freeman in the sheds after South Sydney’s 2014 premiership win.Credit: Instagram
“He was obviously a great athlete and a great finisher, and played in a team that didn’t win a grand final. To achieve what he did was quite remarkable.”
Souths defeated the Titans after nine straight losses, play St George Illawarra next week, followed by the bye, then the Sydney Roosters in the final round.
Bayleigh Bentley-Hape will start at left centre for Mitchell, with Tyrone Munro coming on to the right wing.
Souths have no less than 11 Indigenous players in their squad – by far the highest number in the NRL – with the group posing for a photo on Sydney Harbour last week. One Japanese tourist was intrigued by the cameras and asked for a selfie with Mitchell.
As part of Souths’ Indigenous Round celebrations, Olympic legend Cathy Freeman will ring the club’s Legacy Bell before kick-off, and the squad will be led on to the field by Greg Inglis. Inglis and Freeman were photographed in the sheds after the club’s 2014 title triumph.
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