Andrew Johns
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Photograph by Ken Lundon Flickr.
Before his unfortunate injury Johns season had been marvelous and despite his lack of involvement in the Glyn Johns finals series he was awarded the Player of the Year Dally M Medal for a record third time, a feat achieved by none other to-date. Andrews Johns back injury at the tail-end of 2002 was the first of what seemed like a plague of injuries over the next few seasons, he had a serious neck injury that threatened his career in 2003, sustained a ACL knee injury which kept him out of most of the 2004 season, and broke his jaw in early 2005. Johns created a national debate in 2004 after receiving a massive offer from rugby union to switch codes. He was again chosen as the first-choice halfback for Game 3 and performed well, sealing the series for the Blues with a strong 32-10 win. In August 2005, it was announced that Johns would be joining the English side Warrington Wolves on a short-term deal, playing in the final two games of the regular Super League season and any playoff games the Wolves might reach.
The judges for the poll included league historian David Middleton, former NSW and Test player Mark Geyer and veteran sports journalist Tony Adams. On April 17, 2008 he was named in Team of the Century at halfback by a 28-man judging panel, who voted in a secret ballot and chose the team from an original list of the 100 Greatest Players named earlier in the year. The third club to hire Johns for his coaching services was the Canterbury Bulldogs, who signed Johns for the 2008 season.
In his second match against Tasmania, Johns scored only nine runs and his cricket career was rather short lived. Back in the NRL playing for Newcastle, during a Round 18 match against the Parramatta Eels, Johns name entered the NRL record books for the second time in the year. Andrew Joey Johns (born 19 May 1974 in Cessnock, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s who is considered by some critics one of the greatest players of all time, and was heralded as the world s best halfback for a number of years.
He finished his career as the highest points scorer in Australian first grade premiership history with 2,176 points. In 2008 Johns was named as the Best Player of the Last 30 Years by Rugby League Week and was also named as halfback of the New South Wales and Australian teams of the century. Andrew Johns began playing junior rugby league in his home town of Cessnock, New South Wales. The announcement sparked a lot of media interest and many critics and the public suspected a public relations stunt as his first match would be played in Johns home town of Newcastle.
Johns initially claimed that an unknown person had pushed the tablet into his pocket which he later forgot to remove before leaving the crowded venue. There is great debate regarding the events that transpired during the negotiations with Rugby Union as the contractual offers were made by the Waratahs without the salary top ups from the Australian Rugby Union that had been common place in contractual negotiations with previous potential converts from Rugby League.
After David Gallop, the CEO of the NRL, and Channel Nine contributed money and a promise of a commentary position after his career finished, Johns finally decided to stay in league, ending months of speculation and debate. The role will involve him specifically working with the halves, hookers and backs.
In addition, in a first for the NRL, his number 7 jersey was retired for the match with new young half back Jarrod Mullen wearing number 18. It s not until you step away that I realise all the pressure I was under, I m not going to miss playing at all. In February 2008, Johns was named in the list of Australia s 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code s centenary year in Australia. 1908 Horrie Miller • 1909 Arthur Conlin • 1910 Dally Messenger • 1911 Dally Messenger • 1912 Dally Messenger • 1913 Harold Horder • 1914 Harold Horder • 1915 Wally Messenger • 1916 Charles Fraser • 1917 Charles Fraser • 1918 Harold Horder • 1919 A McPherson • 1920 Frank Burge • 1921 Rex Norman • 1922 Harold Horder • 1923 Arthur Oxford • 1924 Jack Courtney • 1925 Benny Wearing • 1926 Jack Courtney • 1927 Alf Blair • 1928 Benny Wearing • 1929 Jim Craig • 1930 Jim Craig • 1931 Jack Lynch • 1932 Les Mead • 1933 Syd Christensen • 1934 Dave Brown • 1935 Dave Brown • 1936 Syd Christensen • 1937 Jack Beaton • 1938 Tom Kirk • 1939 Neville Smith • 1940 Tom Kirk • 1941 Neville Smith • 1942 Ray Lindwall • 1943 Tom Kirk • 1944 Tom Kirk • 1945 Dick Dunn • 1946 Tom Kirk • 1947 Pat Devery • 1948 Jack Lindwall • 1949 Bill Keato • 1950 Bill Keato • 1951 Ron Rowles • 1952 Ron Rowles • 1953 Ron Rowles • 1954 Ron Rowles • 1955 Doug Fleming • 1956 Doug Fleming • 1957 Darcy Russell • 1958 Harry Bath • 1959 Darcy Russell • 1960 Brian Graham • 1961 Bob Landers • 1962 Don Parish • 1963 Fred Griffiths • 1964 Fred Griffiths • 1965 Fred Griffiths • 1966 Bob Lanigan • 1967 Eric Simms • 1968 Eric Simms • 1969 Eric Simms • 1970 Eric Simms • 1971 Graeme Langlands • 1972 Allan McKean • 1973 Graeme Langlands • 1974 Graham Eadie • 1975 Graham Eadie • 1976 Graham Eadie • 1977 Michael Cronin • 1978 Michael Cronin • 1979 Michael Cronin • 1980 Steve Gearin • 1981 Steve Rogers • 1982 Michael Cronin • 1983 Michael Eden • 1984 Steve Gearin • 1985 Michael Cronin • 1986 Terry Lamb • 1987 Ross Conlon • 1988 Gary Belcher • 1989 Andy Currier & Ricky Walford • 1990 Mal Meninga • 1991 Daryl Halligan • 1992 Daryl Halligan • 1993 Daryl Halligan • 1994 Daryl Halligan • 1995 Matthew Ridge • 1996 Jason Taylor • 1997 Jason Taylor (ARL) Ryan Girdler (SL) • 1998 Ivan Cleary • 1999 Matt Geyer • 2000 Joel Caine • 2001 Andrew Johns & Ben Walker • 2002 Hazem El Masri • 2003 Hazem El Masri • 2004 Hazem El Masri • 2005 Brett Hodgson • 2006 Hazem El Masri • 2007 Hazem El Masri • 2008 Luke Covell • 2009 Hazem El Masri 1980 Robert Laurie • 1981 Steve Rogers • 1982 Ray Price • 1983 Terry Lamb • 1984 Michael Potter • 1985 Greg Alexander • 1986 Peter Sterling • 1987 Peter Sterling • 1988 Gavin Miller • 1989 Gavin Miller • 1990 Cliff Lyons • 1991 Michael Potter • 1992 Gary Freeman • 1993 Ricky Stuart • 1994 Cliff Lyons • 1995 Laurie Daley • 1996 Allan Langer • 1998 Andrew Johns • 1999 Andrew Johns • 2000 Trent Barrett • 2001 Preston Campbell • 2002 Andrew Johns • 2004 Danny Buderus • 2005 Johnathan Thurston • 2006 Cameron Smith • 2007 Johnathan Thurston • 2008 Matt Orford • 2009 Jarryd Hayne .
Johns missed the following match but returned in Round 3 against the Canberra Raiders which would, unbeknownst to him, be his last career match in the NRL. In the preceding 13 years, the Cessnock junior had revolutionised the game like few others before him.
Although Johns initially demanded an apology from the touch judge for costing his team the match, he was fined and suspended for two matches for the incident. Several weeks later during Round 23 Johns was the center of controversy.
It was revealed by Dr John Yeo that Johns had a bulging disc in his neck, it was confirmed that it had been present for some time and was not related to the training incident. At the conclusion of the World Cup, Johns was awarded his first significant accolade winning the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
These reasons were later retracted after the Ecstasy Controversy (see below). Even without the additional monetary support from the ARU, the Waratahs were able to table an offer to Johns that was far larger than any Rugby League club could offer on their own. However, Johns defied the odds to play, and with less than minute of the match to go with scores tied at 16-all Johns made what is now a now famous play that has gone down in rugby league folklore.
Many believe it is Andrews first step towards a head coaching role in the National Rugby League. In February 2008, a year after his retirement, Johns moved a step closer to becoming rugby league s next Immortal after being named the Best Player of the Last 30 Years by major rugby league magazine Rugby League Week. He went out of position unexpectedly and into dummy-half where he ran down a narrow blind-side before slipping a pass to Newcastle winger Darren Albert for the match winning try, with only six seconds remaining in the game Newcastle had snatched victory and secured their first Premiership title. The following year in the new National Rugby League the Knights performed even better during the regular season than the previous year, losing only 5 matches and narrowly missing out on the Minor-Premiership due to points difference.
At the conclusion of the 1999 season, despite the Knights had slipped to 7th and were knocked out in the first round of the finals, Andrew Johns was still proving to be the most devastating half-back in the game. Johns individually was brilliant and was awarded his first Player of the Year Dally M Medal for the 1998 season.
He says his decision was massively affected by his son, who wanted him to stay in league. He was cautioned and released with no further charges.
The initial fears were blown out of the water as Johns lead Newcastle to another Grand Final victory, defeating the Parramatta Eels 30-24 in 2001. Unfortunately for Johns and NSW fans he had one of his worst goal kicking games in game one of the 1998 State of Origin as NSW lost by 1 point despite scoring more tries than QLD.
He captained the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League and participated in the team s first two premiership victories in 1997 and 2001, playing a club record 249 games for the Knights. Johns has a son Samuel from his previous marriage. On March 2, 2009 Johns and wife Catherine welcomed their first child and son Louis Byron On the 26 August 2007 Johns was arrested for fare evasion on the London Underground, and subsequently found to be in possession of one ecstasy tablet.
Also that year he as able to make his debut for the Kangaroos in Australia s successful retention of the Rugby League World Cup in England. On October 2008 Johns completed a walk from Newcastle to Sydney to raise funds for the Black Dog Institute. To celebrate the inclusion of Australia s Dally Messenger in the original All Golds tour, Andrew Johns had been invited to join the New Zealand team for the match against the Northern Union.
He wore the number 31 (after Warrington was refused permission for Johns to wear 77) and is rumoured to have been paid around $100,000AUD per match for the Wolves. When Johns returned from his honeymoon at the beginning of the 2008 Pre-season, he began a part-time coaching role with the Parramatta Eels, working one-on-one with Eels halves Brett Finch & Tim Smith.
He made his return for the Opening match of the Finals in a win over Manly, but he played his last game of finals football the next week in the 50-6 loss against eventual Premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. Things didn t start well for Johns in the 2007 season as he lasted only four minutes into Round 1. Subsequently he was named in the starting line-up against the South Sydney Rabbitohs and in his debut match made an immediate impact as he amassed 23 points and was awarded the Man-of-the-Match .
As Canterbury Bulldogs forward Sonny Bill Williams went to perform one of his trade mark hits on Johns, the tackle strayed high leaving Johns lying on the field concussed. The following year in the last pre-season trial for the 1994 season, Matthew Rodwell, Newcastle s then-regular halfback sustained a knee injury handing Johns his golden opportunity.
Brett Robinson was the High Performance Unit Manager at the time and has stated that in addition to the reasons that had been stated at the time of Johns age and injury history, the knowledge of his drug taking had been influential in making their final decision. When Andrew Johns was named the Best Player of the Last 30 Years in early 2008, the accolade allayed concern that Johns shock drug admission the year before had tarnished his remarkable efforts on the field for Newcastle, NSW and Australia. The signing caused controversy for a number of reasons: many people questioned why the Wolves were allowed to bring in a player in time for the Super League play-offs after he had finished playing a full season in Australia.
The Knights board re-named the new $30 million East grandstand of EnergyAustralia Stadium the Andrew Johns Stand . He was also approached by the Welsh Rugby Union due to his Welsh heritage. As Game 2 of the 2005 State of Origin series approached, the Blues were down 1-0 and Johns was selected to replace Brett Kimmorley in the New South Wales squad.
Johns tried to soften the blow of his retirement by stating he was seriously considering retirement at the end of the 2007 season and was quoted in the press conference as saying I knew this year would be my last year, it s just unfortunate it s stopped five months before the end of the season. Commenting on his teammates reaction to his retirement, Johns noted They were sort of relieved I think, after a couple of injuries this year . The following Thursday after the Canberra match a tackle with Newcastle teammate Adam Woolnough in a training session resulted in his referral to a specialist to examine the injury.
Later, Johns stated he felt the game has forgiven me . On 9 September 2008 at the Dally M awards in Sydney, Johns and his wife Catherine announced they were expecting their first child in March 2009. An Andrew Johns conversion of a Newcastle try put Johns as the highest point scorer in the 98-year history of first grade Rugby League in Australia, eclipsing Jason Taylor s previous record of 2,107 points.
Despite this, Johns still played for NSW and in his first match against South Australia, had a missed opportunity to take a wicket; a short-pitched delivery was pulled to the boundary but much to the dismay of the large Novocastrian crowd in attendance, the catch was put down by the outfielder. In the same time-frame Johns worked with his old club the Newcastle Knights in a similar skills specific coaching role.
The signing and subsequent confusion over the rules led other Super League clubs to follow the example set by the Wolves and signed their own Antipodean players on short-term contracts. Andrew Johns broke one of the longest-standing records in Round 2 of the 2006 season as he amassed 30 points against the Canberra Raiders and in doing so claimed the point scoring record for a player at a single club, surpassing Mick Cronin s 1,971 points for Parramatta. Halfway through the year at the end of June, it was announced that Johns would play for the NSW cricket side, while still playing rugby league, for their Twenty20 series. I m at the best place I have been in a long time, he said.
Later in the year the Knights would name Johns as halfback and captain for their commemorative Team of the Era . In June 2007, in what would be the first of his involvement as a specialist part-time coach, rival code the Australian Rugby Union hired Johns as the Wallabies in-play kicking coach for the duration of the 2007 Tri Nations Series. He was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for Man-of-the-Match in a Grand Final and later that year was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia s international standing in the sport of rugby league. In 2002, Johns was awarded the captaincy of both New South Wales and Australia, going on to win the title of Player of the Series against Great Britain.
In The Daily Telegraph on 11 April 2007, one day after retiring, some of the game s greats, including other Immortals called for him to be made an immortal of the game. Johns didn t struggle to regain his form, receiving Man-of-the-Match honours in the Blues 32-22 win over Queensland.
Not long after the incident he released his tell-all autobiography that went into further details regarding his depression and drug use while playing in the NRL. The ARU released a press statement shortly after the controversy arose stating that Johns drug use was known to them and played a key factor in their decision to not proceed with contractual negotiations in 2004. His performances at club, state and national level were again awarded as he received his second Player of the Year Dally M Medal, the first time a player had won the award consecutively since Parramatta Eels great Michael Cronin in 1977 & 1978. Despite initial concerns regarding the leadership of the Knights after the retirement of Paul Harragon, and even more-so when Andrews brother Matthew joined British Super League club the Wigan Warriors, Johns was given the responsibility of captaining the Newcastle squad.
Andrew Johns is one of only two players to have won the Golden Boot Award more than once and is the only player to have won the Dally M Medal for best player in the NRL three times. On 27 October 2007, Johns married his partner Cathrine Mahoney in a secret wedding on a Sydney island, coincidentally on the same day Brisbane, Queensland and Australia captain Darren Lockyer tied the knot.
During a tense 18-16 loss to Manly, Johns believed the touch judge had missed a blatant error and in the heat of the moment called the referee Fucking cunt . The second game in the series was his first match since returning from a series of injuries that sidelined him for a number of weeks.
The following year Johns was moved to hooker for the State of Origin, with New South Wales selectors favouring Geoff Toovey in the halfback role. The Knights only agreed to these terms after Johns first signed a new contract, making him available to captain the Knights until the end of 2008.
Encumbent New South Wales halfback Ricky Stuart was not selected due to his club Canberra s affiliation with Super League. Williams pleaded guilty at the judiciary for a reckless high-tackle, and received a two-week suspension for the hit.
Numerous past legends of both codes expressed their opinions. He rather ironically scored the record-breaking conversion in a 46-12 loss to the Eels, who were coached at the time by none other than Jason Taylor.
Four years later, at 19 years of age, the opportunity at first grade presented itself to Johns as he was tested off the bench during the 1993 season in a handful of games. On receiving the award he was quoted as saying his health was now in great shape.
This followed a long run of injuries, the last of which was a bulging disc in his neck which forced his retirement due to the risk of serious spinal injury from further heavy contact. Johns was voted the top honour beating the likes of Queensland legend Wally Lewis (voted #2), fellow NSW star Brad Fittler (voted #3) and current Queensland & Australian captain Darren Lockyer (voted #4).
All medical advice given to Johns was to retire from professional football as any further neck injury could prove life threatening and on 10 April 2007, Johns announced his retirement from rugby league. The Newcastle Knights season would fall apart as they finished 15th from 16 teams on the ladder, narrowly missing out on the Wooden Spoon due to a narrow 2 point victory in their last match of the season. He played in 23 games for New South Wales in State of Origin (captaining the side to a series win in 2003), and twice played for the Country Origin side in 1995 and 1996. Johns announced his retirement from rugby league on 10 April 2007 at the age of 32.
Johns also represented his country at 2 World Cups, and on 1 Kangaroo tour, playing in total 21 Test matches for the national side. Since then, Johns was regularly chosen for state and national representaive sides when fit, only missing out on a Blues or Australian cap due to injury. During the 1997 ARL season Johns played a pivotal role in guiding the Knights to their first grand final appearance against defending champions & 97 minor-premiers the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.
His passing & kicking games became the benchmark for which all other halfbacks are judged. At an early age it was evident he had plenty of playing ability and Johns joined the Newcastle Knights junior ranks at 15 years of age in 1989.
I think the time s right, Upon his retirement a chorus of past league greats called for Andrew Johns to be immediately honoured as an immortal of the game. There were grave concerns leading up to the match that Johns would be unable to play the game, as he had a received three broken ribs and a punctured lung only a fortnight earlier in the Knights Semi-Final win over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
Unfortunately the Knights finals campaign de-railed as Andrew broke a bone in his back in the first week of the finals, and the Knights without Johns ended up losing to eventual Premiers the Sydney Roosters 38-12 to be knocked out of the season. At a club level Andrew Johns and the Newcastle Knights performed well, narrowly missing out on the Minor-Premiership due to points difference.
He soon formed a winning partnership with his older brother, Matthew Johns, who had played five-eighth at the Knights since 1991. The 1995 season saw prosperous times for Johns, as he was selected for the first time to represent New South Wales in the 1995 State of Origin Series. The Knights finished the regular season well without Johns in 2006.
