{"id":538230,"date":"2026-03-13T17:45:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/538230\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T17:45:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:45:29","slug":"albanese-says-risk-of-fine-worth-it-to-join-celebration-as-alex-johnston-makes-nrl-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/538230\/","title":{"rendered":"Albanese says risk of fine ‘worth it’ to join celebration as Alex Johnston makes NRL history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands swarmed Alex Johnston as the Rabbitohs winger made NRL history tonight<\/a> by breaking the record for most tries scored, and there was one face amongst the crowd that took many by surprise: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.<\/p>\n

The nation’s leader joined the fan chaos at Allianz Stadium that forced players to retreat to the sheds and halted the game for more than 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

Commentators on Nine revelled in “a moment the game will never forget”.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The prime minister is South Sydney’s No.1 ticket holder and has been a fan for life. (Nine)\"\"\/Security at first had attempted to stop some of the fans but it was to no use in an iconic moment for rugby league. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Johnston’s runaway try against the Sydney Roosters took his career total to 213, surpassing the record held by Ken Irvine for 53 years.<\/p>\n

“I know it’s not the right thing at the moment for the players, but this is a one-off,” Brad Fittler said of the fan celebrations.<\/p>\n

“This is the only time this will happen in their life.”<\/p>\n

Security at first had attempted to stop some of the fans but it was to no use in an iconic moment for rugby league.<\/p>\n

And even Albanese couldn’t resist being part of the celebrations.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/“He’s just a great Australian,” Albanese said of Alex Johnston. (Nine)\"\"\/Alex Johnston of the Rabbitohs celebrates being the highest try scorer in the NRL with 213 tries. (Getty)<\/p>\n

NRL legend Billy Slater interviewed Albanese after the game, asking if he faced being fined for joining the on-field celebrations.<\/p>\n

“It was worth it to be part of history,” Albanese said, a red and green Rabbitohs scarf around his neck.<\/p>\n

“I was on the Souths board when we got kicked out of the comp, and 100,000 people marched through the streets of Sydney, ‘South Sydney ’til I die’, as the slogan went.<\/p>\n

“And a great moment for Alex Johnston.<\/p>\n

“He’s been an extraordinary player but he’s also a great man, he’s so humble. And it was a great moment for rugby league and a great moment for South Sydney.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Fans came from every corner of the stadium to join the celebrations. (Nine)<\/p>\n

The prime minister is South Sydney’s No.1 ticket holder and has been a fan for life.<\/p>\n

He was previously a director on the club’s board, and a personal supporter of Johnston, including a period when the star almost left the club.<\/p>\n

Albanese’s relationship with the Rabbitohs is so storied that he even fell in love with his wife, Jodie Haydon, in part due to their shared adoration of the club.<\/p>\n

“It’s incredible and he’s a La Perouse local,” Albanese said as he continued about Johnston.<\/p>\n

“He’s a proud Indigenous man, he’s an author, he’s written kids’ books.<\/p>\n

“He’s just a great Australian.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Alex Johnston poses with his family in the post-match celebrations. (Getty)<\/p>\n

Newcastle Knights legend Andrew Johns said it was great to have the prime minister present, especially given his personal connection to Johnston.<\/p>\n

“It’s great that he’s here and, you know, it’s not virtue signalling, he loves rugby league and he loves South Sydney,” Johns said on Nine.<\/p>\n

“It just adds to the night.”<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Rabbitohs, Johnston’s brilliance was not enough and the Roosters won 26-18.\ufeff<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands swarmed Alex Johnston as the Rabbitohs winger made NRL history tonight by breaking the record for most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-538230","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\/538230","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=538230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}