South Sydney Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston has etched his name into Rugby League folklore, becoming the greatest try-scorer in Australian Premiership history.<\/p>\n
A proud one\u2011club player, Johnston surpassed the 53\u2011year\u2011old record held by the late Ken Irvine by crossing for his 213th career try in the 41st\u00a0minute of his side\u2019s clash with the Sydney Roosters at a sold-out Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n
The La Perouse junior, of Papua New Guinean, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, reached the milestone in his 245th Premiership appearance \u2014 a moment widely regarded as one of the most significant individual achievements in the history of the game.<\/p>\n
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said Johnston\u2019s record represented a rare and defining moment for Rugby League.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of everyone involved in our game, I congratulate Alex on an achievement that will stand the test of time,\u201d Mr Abdo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cKen Irvine was small in stature but a giant of Rugby League \u2014 one of the greatest wingers the game has ever known. His try\u2011scoring record stood for more than half a century and was considered by many to be untouchable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes Alex\u2019s achievement truly extraordinary. He is one of the finest finishers we\u2019ve ever seen, and it is fitting that he now stands alone as the Premiership\u2019s greatest try\u2011scorer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Abdo said Johnston\u2019s impact extended well beyond the try line.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a role model, Alex represents the very best of our game. With his Indigenous Australian and Papua New Guinean heritage, he is an inspiration to young players in southern Sydney, across Australia, and throughout the Pacific.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 12 seasons he has been a cornerstone of the Rabbitohs\u2019 attack, and as a game we are immensely proud not only of what he has achieved on the field, but of the person he is and the positive impact he continues to have on his club, his community and his people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnston was presented with the match ball and a commemorative display case marking the milestone, and will also receive a custom ring upon his retirement from the NRL detailing his final try\u2011scoring record.<\/p>\n
Ken Irvine debuted as an 18\u2011year\u2011old in 1958 and scored his 212th try in his 234th Premiership match (including nine Finals appearances) at the age of 33. Named in the Australian Rugby League Team of the Century in 2008, Irvine reached his milestones with remarkable consistency \u2014 taking 47 matches to score his first 50 tries, 48 for his second, 56 for his third, and 67 for his fourth.<\/p>\n
Johnston debuted as a 19\u2011year\u2011old in 2014 and has achieved the record at the age of 31. His strike rate has been equally extraordinary \u2014 taking 63 matches for his first 50 tries, 78 for his second, just 38 for his third, and 52 for his fourth.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Johnston became the Rabbitohs\u2019 all\u2011time leading try\u2011scorer during Indigenous Round, surpassing club legend Nathan Merritt with his 147th career try. He is also the leading try\u2011scorer in the 26\u2011year history of Sydney\u2019s Accor Stadium (formerly Stadium Australia).<\/p>\n
Johnston is a three\u2011time recipient of the Ken Irvine Medal, awarded to the game\u2019s leading try\u2011scorer, winning the honour in 2020, 2021 and 2022. In 2022, he became the first player in Premiership history to score 30 tries in consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Sydney Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston has etched his name into Rugby League folklore, becoming the greatest try-scorer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-537824","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\/537824","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=537824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}