Tryscoring machine Alex Johnston has reached yet another career milestone, scoring his 150th NRL four-pointer.
The Rabbitohs easily held off the Titans on the Gold Coast, the last of Johnston’s three tries sealing the result late in the second half.
The 27-year-old once played Greg Inglis in a television commercial, before becoming his premiership-winning teammate, and now, surpassing one of the game’s all-time greats to grab his 150th try.
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He becomes just the 15th man to do so, and just the third to ever wear the famous cardinal and myrtle. Harold Horder split his time between Norths and Souths in a prolific career, while Nathan Merritt had 146 for the Bunnies, and eight more for Cronulla.
But all of Johnston’s 150 have come for the Redfern club, debuting in 2014 and being a mainstay in the team ever since – and had he not spent parts of the 2017-19 seasons at fullback, he may well be closing in on 200 already.
“I can’t put it down to anything – obviously when we’re on song down the left side I tend to score some tries,” he told Fox League.
“It is cliche, but I owe it to the guys inside me like Stretch (Campbell Graham) and Cody (Walker).”
It’s back-to-back hat-tricks for Johnston, and back-to-back wins for Souths – after they smashed the Tigers in the week before Origin.
They’re yet to win three games in a row this year, and will be aiming to do so against the Dragons on Thursday night.
“We’ve just got to keep going in an upwards direction,” Johnston said.
Teammate Damien Cook was full of praise – and said the chase for Ken Irvine’s all-time record of 212 tries was well and truly on.
“His IQ as a winger is unbelievable,” the hooker said on Fox League.
“He’s one of the smartest people out there – he just puts himself in the right positions in attack and D.”
“It’s an unbelievable achievement, what he’s done. He’s going to continue to break that record.
“He’s still young, there’s going to be a fair few to come.”