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But former Rabbitohs captain John Sutton can vividly remember trying to ready Alex Johnston for battle when the quiet, unassuming winger pulled on the cardinal and myrtle for the first time on April 25, 2014.<\/p>\n
As Johnston prepares to make NRL try scoring history when the Rabbitohs take on the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium on Friday, Sutton this week recalled the beginning of his journey, where the then 19-year-old stamped his mark on the NRL world almost immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember his debut game in Brisbane clearly,\u201d Sutton told foxsports.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cMadge [then Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire] came up to me in the sheds before the game and said \u2018you\u2019ve got to give Alex a bit and make him feel good. Because he\u2019s a bit nervous over there\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went over and had a chat with him, asked him how he was going. He seemed a bit nervous for sure, but when he got out there, you knew he was something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Get all the latest news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports NRL Sportmail. Sign up now!!! <\/a><\/p>\n John Sutton pulled Johnston aside for a chat before his NRL debut.Source: News Limited<\/p>\n Johnston was tasked with replacing Nathan Merritt on the South Sydney wing during the 2014 season; a Rabbitohs hero and at the time, top club try scorer.<\/p>\n It took Johnston only six minutes to make an impression in that pivotal debut match, deftly juggling an Adam Reynolds chip-kick to cross in the corner. He would go onto score 21 tries in 18 games through the 2014 season, including first points in South Sydney\u2019s triumphant Grand Final victory over Canterbury.<\/p>\n Johnston eventually overtook Merritt\u2019s own Souths try scoring club record of 146 in 2022, quietly reeling in each milestone in his own gentle, indomitable style. <\/p>\n This weekend against the Roosters, Johnston is tipped to become the greatest NRL try scorer of all time as he attempts to level and surpass Ken Irvine\u2019s five-decade-old record of 211. He currently sits on 210, from 243 NRL appearances.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a huge feat, but one that carries even more weight in Redfern circles because Johnston (a La Perouse junior) has done it all for the same club.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes me very proud,\u201d Sutton said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe always believe in our juniors and we try to prepare them through the grades so they can all play first grade. It\u2019s so good to see.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just makes me proud that the boys from this area really want to play for the club. We\u2019ve had some really good players over the years and AJ is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE NRL NEWS<\/p>\n AJ DEBATE: Wayne says \u2018that\u2019s not our game\u2019 but many disagree on fans on the field<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018CAN\u2019T FINE EVERYONE\u2019: AJ\u2019s cheeky message on field storming <\/a><\/p>\n Panel DIVIDED on rushing the field | 01:58<\/p>\n From his school years, Johnston showed razor-sharp focus on anything in front of him.<\/p>\n Teachers at Endeavour High School, where Johnston graduated his HSC with an ATAR score of 91.8, say he applied himself diligently and never forgot where he came from.<\/p>\n On the football field, Johnston stood out most: he played Harold Matthews a year young, and featured in every representative side, including Australian schoolboys.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was always a quiet kid and a special athlete who was good at everything. Anything he tried his hand to at a sports high school, he could do,\u201d said Dave Howlepp, a coach with Endeavour\u2019s rugby league program. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd that included in the classroom where he was always in the top classes and always performing well in everything that he did.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a gifted athlete first and foremost, but he also had a real game sense of how to create space, how to identify space. He just moved really well, you could see that straight away \u2013 and he had a real thirst for learning and wanted to be coached.\u201d<\/p>\n Try scoring isn\u2019t necessarily a taught skill, but an instinctive one, and Johnston\u2019s knack for crossing the line was evident early on, according to those around him. He had great hands following a handy junior cricket career, plus a great read in attack, remarkable speed and, above all else, composure.<\/p>\n Johnston is a try-scoring machine. Picture: NRL PhotosSource: Supplied<\/p>\n The winger has long spoken about his unwavering loyalty to South Sydney, even during a publicised contract saga in 2020 where he was all-but set to be pushed out due to salary cap pressures. <\/p>\n In fact, Johnston said at the time that the Tigers and Storm were the \u201cmain two\u201d teams in the position to sign him and that he was \u201cvery close\u201d to leaving South Sydney. <\/p>\n \u201cThe other clubs were very good to me, very tempting and I think I\u2019d say 50\/50 were the odds at the end of the day,\u201d Johnston said, adding that in the end the Tigers deal was \u201cnot as high as other clubs\u201d.<\/p>\n Rabbitohs fans vehemently objected, lodging an online petition fighting for Johnston\u2019s inclusion.<\/p>\n In the end, coach Wayne Bennett was a key figurehead in Johnston being retained at the club after the winger wrote a letter to Rabbitohs bosses pleading to stay at the club. <\/p>\n Wayne Bennett pushed for Johnston to stay.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n \u201cThe letter saved him. I kept the letter because I thought it was such a great letter. I didn\u2019t know him and his contract was up,\u201d Bennett told Code Sports<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter I read the letter I said you have to find a way to keep this guy – and we did. It was a beautiful letter of what the club meant to him.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Bennett, Johnston\u2019s team mates responded to his re-signing with rapturous applause.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was certainly the most cheering and clapping I\u2019ve heard for a long time in the change room,\u201d the master coach said at the time.<\/p>\n Get all the latest news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports NRL Sportmail. Sign up now!!! <\/a><\/p>\n Historic record could happen next week?! | 04:44<\/p>\n Now 31, Johnston has been the NRL\u2019s leading try-scorer on four occasions: in 2014, 2020, 2021 and 2022. His career also includes representative honours for Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Indigenous All Stars.<\/p>\n While there are no guarantees Johnston will equal or break Irvine\u2019s long-standing mark on Friday, Sutton \u2013 the most-capped Rabbitohs player in history, at 336 games \u2013 has already anointed him as a Souths legend either way.<\/p>\n Sutton said that from the first pep talk deep in the bowels of Suncorp Stadium, the pair\u2019s relationship strengthened through South\u2019s 2014 premiership season \u2013 and continues today.<\/p>\n \u201cAJ\u2019s a quiet, laidback sort of guy. It was amazing what he did in that first year, he was just freakish when he came into grade,\u201d Sutton remembered.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew we could count on Alex pretty quickly during that premiership season, because he held his position all year, even with Nathan Merritt there and Lote Tuqiri coming into the squad.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s one of the smartest wingers there is. Defensively, he makes some really good reads. And in attack, he knows where to be. He\u2019s a really smart winger and he knows where to put himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s already a legend at Souths.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE NRL NEWS<\/p>\n TALKING PTS: \u2018Brutal\u2019 Manly reality; transformed 145kg star compared to icon<\/a><\/p>\n MCKINNON: Knights\u2019 new weapon I didn\u2019t see coming… and baffling Broncos lesson<\/a><\/p>\n Alex Johnston is a club legend. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n This season, Johnston continues as a key member of South Sydney\u2019s attack, teaming with Cody Walker, Latrell Mitchell and Campbell Graham to offer what is being billed the league\u2019s \u2018most lethal left edge\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n