{"id":706566,"date":"2026-05-31T16:10:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T16:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/706566\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T16:10:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T16:10:23","slug":"mate-it-broke-me-joey-dishes-on-emotional-20-year-origin-juggling-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/706566\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mate, it broke me\u2019: Joey dishes on emotional 20-year Origin juggling act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns<\/a> sat on the sideline of Melbourne\u2019s Marvel Stadium – then Telstra Dome – on the night of July 5, 2006 and felt his heart break.<\/p>\n

He was forced to watch helplessly as his beloved New South Wales<\/a> blew a 14-4 lead to lose the State of Origin<\/a> decider to Queensland<\/a> in a 10-minute nightmare.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns in action for the Blues.\u00a0nna\\cdesilva<\/p>\n

The Blues looked to be home and hosed. Then a Johnathan Thurston<\/a> linebreak in the 71st minute set up a long-range Brent Tate try to make it 14-10. Two minutes later, Blues fullback Brett Hodgson threw a rank, wild pass out of dummy-half that hit the deck and was scooped up by Darren Lockyer<\/a>, who scored under the posts. The conversion made it 16-14 and the man known as Joey could not believe it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ripped my guts out,\u201d the eighth Immortal tells Nine.com.au<\/a> in a candid sit-down interview, two decades after he transitioned from Origin hero to sideline pundit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018I should be out there\u2019. In my mind I was still fit, ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 20 years since Johns swapped the Steeden for a Channel Nine microphone and he reckons it hasn\u2019t gotten much easier.<\/p>\n

Another video of him during last week\u2019s thrilling NSW victory over Queensland at Accor Stadium<\/a> went viral when he reacted to the Blues bombing a sure try late in the comeback.<\/p>\n

It was just another insight into the man who many believe to be the most passionate fanatic to bleed blue.<\/p>\n

Joey \u2018pressured\u2019 to retire<\/p>\n

While Johns continued to play NRL<\/a> for Newcastle<\/a> in 2006, his Origin career had been ended by an agreement with the Knights he would live to massively regret.<\/p>\n

He had steered the Blues to a series victory in 2005 – their third in a row – after missing the first game through injury, which Queensland won.<\/p>\n

Then a new contract with Newcastle came with a brutal caveat – he was allowed to play a handful of games for Warrington in the Super League at the end of the 2005 NRL season, but it meant he had to retire from representative football.<\/p>\n

He reluctantly agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was disappointed I was sort of pressured into retiring by the Knights,\u201d he tells Nine.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had it all over again I\u2019d say to them \u2018no\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so it was that he found himself prowling the sidelines during that fateful 2006 series, which would kickstart an eight-year Queensland dynasty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns and Braith Anasta celebrate the 2005 series win.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cHorrible, it was horrible. I felt helpless just on the sideline, watching them going, \u2018come on, you\u2019ve got to be doing this, got to be doing that\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat hurts even more is that was the start of the eight-year dominance, so that period was so hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat eight-year dominance will never be done again. Look at the (Queensland) team, there was four or three future Immortals in that team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t meant to be I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The secret comeback bid<\/p>\n

Johns drops a nugget of gold as he sits and spills the beans on the unceremonious ending to a brilliant career.<\/p>\n

After watching the Blues blow it in 2006, he tried to make a State of Origin comeback the following year.<\/p>\n

He was in cahoots with Mark Bouris, the boss of Wizard Home Loans, which was the major NSW Blues sponsor at the time.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns was still playing outstanding footy for the Knights in the 2006 finals series.\u00a0Cameron Spencer<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one really knows, I was coming back in 2007. I was going to play again for NSW,\u201d he reveals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat hasn\u2019t really got out. I met with Mark Bouris, we were chatting about it and he said \u2018would you come back and play?\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I\u2019d give it some thought. I actually said if the Knights let me, which I\u2019d go to them and say I\u2019m playing… but then there were some signs in the off-season, my body was breaking down and then I hurt my neck again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my head I was going to play. But I wouldn\u2019t have played unless I was cherry ripe, 100 per cent, and at that stage I wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns managed just two games for the Knights at the start of the 2007 season before injuries forced him into retirement at the age of 32.<\/p>\n

Treading the emotional line<\/p>\n

His playing days were over but Johns walked straight into a plum job with Nine as a full-time TV pundit.<\/p>\n

He found working on Knights games tough. But when Origin time came, Joey struggled to control himself.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns reacts to a bombed NSW Blues try.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

He was told to hold nothing back behind the microphone, but admits he often had to catch himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone can see how passionate I am, and I don\u2019t apologise to show what it means,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look back at Fatty (Queensland great turned TV commentator Paul Vautin) when he was commentating. It\u2019s part of the theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at some of the footage (of me commentating), you get so caught up in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Bradman Best scores, when he runs down that sideline, I\u2019m actually not commentating. I\u2019m a fan at the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo sometimes I\u2019ve got to check myself and go \u2018I\u2019m on air here, (I\u2019ve got to) pull my head in\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Best try Johns references happened in the 65th minute of the 2024 series decider, when the Blues trailed 4-2 before Jarome Luai broke the Queensland line and then barnstorming centre Best palmed off a couple of defenders to find the line. <\/p>\n

NSW won that game 14-4 to pinch the shield.<\/p>\n

And while Johns wanted to jump up and down and scream in celebration that night, there\u2019s been plenty of times he\u2019s felt like smashing his headset in frustration and anger.<\/p>\n

\u2018NSW just don\u2019t get Origin\u2019<\/p>\n

The Blues have a habit of losing games, and series, that they are expected to win.<\/p>\n

Game one of the 2023 series was played at Adelaide Oval, and NSW led 18-16 until the 74th minute, when Maroons five-eighth Cameron Munster skipped left and sent his teammate Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow down the sideline to score.<\/p>\n

\u201cMate, it broke me,\u201d Johns recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a fine line, because after that it was so hard (to commentate) for the rest of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the ones that hurt, when the game is won… but then (Queensland) somehow find a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns held it together that night but the veneer cracked when Queensland won game two at Suncorp Stadium a couple of weeks later.<\/p>\n

He was visibly seething post-match when he appeared on Nine\u2019s coverage to dissect the game alongside Vautin and Cameron Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we have to listen to all the bullshit youse go on with for the next 12 months\u2026 it drives you mad,\u201d Johns said on TV.<\/p>\n

Three years after the fact, Joey explains he had no issue with Vautin or Smith that night, but his passion as a diehard Blues fan simply overruled his on-air training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI threw the toys out of the cot,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just hard for me. It\u2019s hard to step away from because it means so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t filthy with Cameron, I was just filthy in general. More with the public, that we would have to hear, \u2018you just don\u2019t get Origin, it means more to us\u2019 – what a crock of shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns isn\u2019t the only New South Welshmen who has become fed up with Queensland\u2019s claim the Blues \u201cdon\u2019t get Origin\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wally Lewis and Andrew Johns. \u00a0nna\\lachlan.harper<\/p>\n

He says his passion for the interstate rivalry is ingrained from childhood, and he believes it will never dissipate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think because I\u2019m a rugby league fanatic and I just grew up watching and loving the Blues. I grew up watching (Queensland icon) Wally Lewis being Wally. NSW would look like winning and then Wally would pull something out of the fire,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember going to bed that night just hating Wally, like everyone in NSW.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will always be there. It will be there until I\u2019m six foot under, and I don\u2019t apologise for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commentating alongside cane toads<\/p>\n

The Nine commentary box is packed full of former State of Origin players from both sides of the Tweed.<\/p>\n

Blues legends Johns, Brad Fittler, Paul Gallen, and Phil Gould sit side by side with the likes of Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater, and sometimes still Vautin.<\/p>\n

Johns has no issue with any of them\u2026 at least until Vautin gets too chirpy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got so much respect for them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFatty was great to work with, Cameron is the greatest player I\u2019ve seen, Thurston I\u2019ve got so much respect for, we are really tight off the field; Billy Slater is the greatest fullback I\u2019ve ever seen. So there is that mutual respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there are times I wish they\u2019d shut their mouth… but they are pretty cool with it. Fatty used to get pretty lippy, but that\u2019s Fatty. You can\u2019t dislike Fatty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Andrew Johns of the Blues celebrates a try in 2005.\u00a0nna\\lachlan.harper<\/p>\n

His Blues jersey has been hanging in the pool room for 20 years now but Johns still gets anxious at this time of year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s horrible. Even a week out, two weeks out I start to get butterflies in my stomach. Because it means so much, for myself and ex players who have been there. It\u2019s that feeling of being helpless.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn your own head you think \u2018I would love to be still out there\u2019. But I\u2019m 52, I\u2019m an old man now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Old man or not, there are many Blues fans who would still love to see the eighth Immortal on the other side of the sideline one more time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Johns sat on the sideline of Melbourne\u2019s Marvel Stadium – then Telstra Dome – on the night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-706566","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\/706566","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=706566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}