{"id":366266,"date":"2025-12-23T08:12:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T08:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/366266\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T08:12:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T08:12:24","slug":"heir-apparent-andrew-johns-son-signs-with-nrl-powerhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/366266\/","title":{"rendered":"Heir apparent: Andrew Johns\u2019 son signs with NRL powerhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sydney Roosters<\/a> have secured a notable addition to their junior pathways, with the son of NRL Immortal Andrew Johns signing with the club ahead of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Sixteen-year-old Louis Johns, a halfback like his famous father, has agreed to a development deal with the Roosters and is expected to feature in the club\u2019s Harold Matthews under-17s side as he begins his journey in elite pathways football.<\/p>\n

Louis is the second of Andrew Johns\u2019 three children and has developed his early game playing junior rugby league with the Paddington Colts in Sydney\u2019s eastern suburbs, where his skills and football IQ have already drawn attention.<\/p>\n

While still at an early stage of his development, the signing has generated intrigue given the pedigree attached to the Johns name and the immense legacy his father left on the game.<\/p>\n

MORE: Roosters could be targeting one of the games best forwards<\/a><\/p>\n

Andrew Johns is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in rugby league history, becoming the eighth Immortal in 2012 after a career that redefined the halfback position.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Across 249 NRL games, all played for the Newcastle Knights<\/a>, Johns won two premierships, multiple Dally M Medals and represented both New South Wales and Australia with distinction during an era of intense competition.<\/p>\n

Renowned for his vision, kicking game and unmatched ability to control a match, Johns remains the benchmark against which modern playmakers are judged.<\/p>\n

The fact Louis has chosen to align with the Roosters rather than the Knights is likely to be bittersweet for Newcastle supporters, who have long regarded the Johns family as synonymous with the club.<\/p>\n

For the Roosters, the signing represents another smart investment in elite youth talent, while for Louis Johns it marks the first significant step in carving out a football identity of his own at the elite development level.<\/p>\n

Despite still carrying one of the most famous surnames the sport has ever known, Johns will now look to forge his own path as he follows in his father\u2019s footsteps \u2014 albeit in different colours as he begins his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sydney Roosters have secured a notable addition to their junior pathways, with the son of NRL Immortal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-366266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}