It\u2019s going to take a couple of beers for Alex Johnston to truly appreciate what he did on Friday night, but when it all sinks in, he\u2019ll sit back and realise that he\u2019s now the greatest try-scorer of all time after bagging a double against the Roosters.<\/p>\n
His second try a minute into the second half saw him overtake Ken Irvine who set the record in 1973 with 212 tries, with many people thinking that his tally would never be bettered.<\/p>\n
But after scoring one in the first half, Johnston made history when he latched onto a Latrell Mitchell pass to race away and score which led to thousands of people storming onto the Allianz Stadium surface, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unlikely the PM will cop a $5500 fine or a two-year ban, but it would be worth it after he got to see the Rabbitohs legend celebrate the magical milestone on the biggest stage. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve already done about a thousand interviews, so I\u2019m just trying to let it sink in,\u201d Johnston said after the game, with the fans rushing onto the field even though Souths coach Wayne Bennett urged them not to do it. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll get home and shower up and see what the boys are doing and then after maybe a couple of beers it might finally sink in. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty special feeling and I know Wayne didn\u2019t want the people to run on, but selfishly it was a good moment for me and to be lifted up on Campbell (Graham) and someone else\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to get it that quick after half-time. If it was going to happen it either should have been me getting the game-winning try or just after half-time like that. I think that ended up being all right.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoyed it for about a minute and then I was like \u2018get me out of here\u2019. It was pretty crazy. It was full on like I honestly was struggling to breathe and it was so hot in there, there were so many people you know tugging me and pulling… just trying to get a piece. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo after about a minute I was just like all right, get me back in the sheds. But it was an awesome feeling that first minute for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Play was stopped for 16 minutes with security arresting several fans, with the Roosters responding better than their opponents after the delay to run out 26-18 victors.<\/p>\n
Johnston was just glad he was able to break the record two games into the season rather than it dragging on for months.<\/p>\n
The winger hasn\u2019t traditionally enjoyed talking about scoring tries, but he made an exception on Friday after Mitchell set up both tries a week after he chose not to pass him the ball when he was wide open. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh this is a massive monkey off my back,\u201d the 2014 grand final winner said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably something that\u2019s been in the back of my mind and something I just really wanted to get done as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I was a bit cut last week that Latrell didn\u2019t pass me that ball. Even then, that\u2019s not the try I would want to get it with. But just because I wanted to get it over and done with and go back to trying to win games of footy and focusing on that rather than scoring these tries. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m glad it\u2019s finally over and I\u2019m sure Wayne is as well and we can get back to team footy and get this season back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bennett didn\u2019t want to talk about the record on Friday night given it\u2019s dominated headlines all week, with the master coach disappointed that the halt in play interrupted his side\u2019s momentum. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt had to happen, it was how it happened after that we had no control over,\u201d he lamented. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the point is that I\u2019ve coached nearly a thousand games and that hasn\u2019t happened before, but it\u2019s a pretty special time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roosters coach Trent Robinson openly said he didn\u2019t want Johnston to break the record in their backyard, but he felt it was \u201clegendary\u201d after seeing such a significant milestone happen before his eyes. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think Wayne and I were talking after the game, he\u2019s seen a lot more milestones than I have,\u201d he said <\/p>\n
\u201cTo see a milestone like that in our game is legendary. To see someone break the try-scoring record and to be a person like AJ is (great). I\u2019ve met him a few different times and how humble he is and how beautiful he is at his craft.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man knows how to score tries and his speed and his balance and all of that, it\u2019s just incredible for him to achieve that. In the end, we didn\u2019t want to be a part of it, but to be honest, it was really great to see him achieve that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daly Cherry-Evans has played 354 NRL games but had never seen anything like the scenes on the field with the fans which reminded him of a major moment in the AFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember sitting at home watching Buddy Franklin get swarmed when he beat the record so I had a feeling based on the talk that was going around that it might happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want it to happen tonight, but the fact that it did happen and we got the win, I can walk away knowing that we got the best of both worlds tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw something very special \u2013 a rugby league record that we thought may never be touched \u2013 and it just got broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuge credit to Alex and all the hard work that he\u2019s put in. What a special night for him and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roosters halfback Sam Walker ran up the tunnel once he saw the chaos unfolding, while skipper James Tedesco stayed on the field to soak it all in. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty wild, it was something I\u2019ve never experienced on the footy field before,\u201d the Roosters fullback said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obviously didn\u2019t want it to happen, but you\u2019ve got to respect and admire that record that he set now and the milestone he\u2019s achieved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe try was scored just past me and then once he scored, I sort of turned around and I think people were unsure what to do, and then once a couple of people jumped over the fence, they all started coming. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think Sammy was quick to run off the field, so a lot of us just went to the side. Staff were trying to get us off the field and get us safe, but honestly we just stood on the sideline for a bit and just watched people running everywhere. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was kids to 80-year-olds out there, it was pretty wild.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnston is only 31 and could easily add another 50 or more tries to his tally, with the Souths great fearing he wouldn\u2019t get here after he suffered a serious Achilles injury in 2024.<\/p>\n
He will be linked with the new PNG franchise when they enter the competition in 2028, but his coach says he\u2019s welcome to stay at the Bunnies if that\u2019s where he wants to finish his career. <\/p>\n
\u201cSouths will always be there for him,\u201d Bennett said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo if he wants to do something else then come back to Souths, that\u2019s never going to be a problem. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe game is blessed to have a player like him, particularly when winning this award as well because he\u2019s as good a player I\u2019ve ever coached with regards to his behaviour, discipline, commitment to team, all the things that matter. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a 10 out of 10. The game is blessed that he\u2019s broken the record.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s going to take a couple of beers for Alex Johnston to truly appreciate what he did on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[4558,64,63,4415,761,762,158,1654,44377,9120,85,4737,57058,1651],"class_list":["post-538309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-alex-johnston","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-james-tedesco","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-rabbitohs","tag-records","tag-roosters","tag-sports","tag-trent-robinson","tag-tries","tag-wayne-bennett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538309","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=538309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}