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Alex Johnston is closing in on a record that many thought would never be broken – Ken Irvine’s magical mark of 212 tries which has stood for half a century.
The Rabbitohs winger touched down twice last weekend in his 200th match to lift his career tally to 171. He’s still a long way from reeling in Irvine but is on track to overhaul Brett Morris (176) and Steven Menzies (180) this season and perhaps even Billy Slater (190) to rise into second spot all time.
Under contract until the end of 2025, Johnston should – barring injury – be within sight of Irvine before that deal runs out.
If he maintains his current career strike rate, he would break the record just before he reaches the 250-game milestone although based on his efforts over the past three seasons, it could happen sooner.
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Johnston has scored 88 times in 78 games since the start of 2020 so it appears only a matter of time before he overtakes Irvine, who scored 171 for North Sydney and 41 for Manly during a 236-match career from 1958-73.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Heading into Saturday’s Accor Stadium showdown with the Wests Tigers, the 27-year-old Papua New Guinean international is 35 tries clear of his next active rival – Roosters winger Daniel Tupou – so if he does get past Irvine, he should hold the record for a while.
Josh Addo-Carr surprisingly has a slightly lower strike rate from 123 tries in 157 games and is only six months younger than Johnston so he would have to enjoy another five fruitful seasons to get into record-breaking territory.
While that record that was previously thought of as unattainable is under threat, there are some premiership marks that are highly unlikely to ever be broken.
Biggest winning margin, highest score, most tries & goals – set by St George in the same game in 1935
The Saints gave the fledgling Canterbury-Bankstown club a lesson in just their fifth match of their foundation season when they romped to a 91-6 cakewalk at Earl Park, scoring 19 tries and booting 17 goals along the way.
It was only 23-6 at half-time with the Berries booting three penalty goals before the floodgates opened.
Average points conceded in a season: 41.25 – Canterbury (1935).
While Canterbury were clearly out of their league in year one, they quickly got their act together to become premiers just three seasons later.
Surely no team in the modern era will concede anywhere near that many points per game.
Unless of course the administrators decided to turn a bunch of half-baked ideas into rules without planning out the consequences, but they wouldn’t do that …
Lowest average score in a season: 4.2 – Wests (1909).
Different times. There were only four occasions all season when a team topped 30 points and scorelines of 4-0 (in the three-point try era), 5-4 and 7-3 were common most weeks. Poor old Wests kicked of the season with a 10-3 win but that was the only time they hit double figures, racking up just eight tries in 10 outings.
Lowest average score conceded in a season: 4.1 – Souths (1909).
Souths were the premiers that year although the legitimacy of that varies on whether you’re talking to a Balmain fan or night – they didn’t turn up for the Grand Final due to a protest about the match being played as a curtain-raiser to a Wallabies vs Kangaroos fixture, Souths did and claimed the trophy on a forfeit.
Ken Irvine was a try-scoring magician.
Most field goals in a season – 29 (Eric Simms in 1968 and Barry Glasgow in 1969)
Even with two points on offer these days for long-range shots, there is no way any player is going to even try that many field goal attempts, let alone make them. Back then, a drop-goal was worth two even though a try was only three but wisely, the rulemakers cut it back to one because it discouraged teams from trying to get the ball over the line.
Most field goals in a match – 5 (Eric Simms for the 1969 Rabbitohs)
He could kick them from halfway such was the power of the South Sydney legend’s right boot. There’s no scenario these days where a player would bang over five.
Longest unbeaten streak – 35 (Easts from 1935-38)
In a salary cap era, it’s nearly impossible for a team to assemble a roster that would go unbeaten for a single season let alone across four of them, which the Tricolours did during their golden era of the late 1930s, winning three straight titles.
Longest losing streak – 42 (University from 1934-36)
Being an amateur club in a professional competition was a bold strategy and the University club struggled to be competitive – collecting the wooden spoon 13 times during its 18 seasons. They won in Round 1 of 1934 but would have been forgiven for not remembering the words to their victory song by the time they next avoided defeat in the final match of 1936.
It ended up being their last ever triumph – they were winless the following year in what turned out to be their final season.
Most tries by a player in a season – Dave Brown – 38 in 1935.
The future Immortal played 15 of Eastern Suburbs’ 16 matches that premiership-winning season, averaging more than 2.5 tries per game. Even in the modern era of 24 matches plus finals, it would be unlikely that a player could cross the stripe 39 times – Alex Johnston has managed 30 the past couple of years at Souths.
Most points by a player in a match – Dave Brown – 45 in 1935.
Again, not totally inconceivable that a player could break this mark but pretty unlikely. They would clearly need to be the team’s goal-kicker and score at least five tries of their own and have a field day with the boot in a huge victory to get close.
Most tries by a player in a match – Frank Burge – 8 in 1920.
And he was a forward! The Glebe Immortal’s high watermark has stood for more than a century with Easts winger Rod O’Loan (seven vs Uni in 1935 in his first match against his former club) the only player who’s scored seven. Josh Addo-Carr ran in six for Melbourne in 2021 in a 50-0 thumping of the Bunnies – he scored three inside the first 26 minutes before adding one just before half-time to be on track for Burge’s mark but only touched down two more times in the 66th and 71st minute.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Most points by a player – Cameron Smith (2786 for Melbourne) Adam Reynolds is a chance – he’s on 2124, under contract for next year at Brisbane and keen to extend his career further.
Nathan Cleary could be the first player to reach 3000 – he’s already racked up 1274 and he’s still only 25. If he continues his prolific output for the best part of another decade, the record will be his.
What might have been for Hazem El Masri if he didn’t have Daryl Halligan ahead of him as the first-choice goal-kicker early in his career at Canterbury – he finished with what was then a premiership record 2418 points despite booting just nine goals in his first five seasons.
Most NRL appearances – 430 by Cameron Smith (2002-20)
Cleary, with 147 in the early stages of his eighth season, is again an outside chance of hauling in Smith but he would need to barely miss a match and play for another dozen years to be any hope.
There are only three active members of the NRL’s 300 games club – James Tamou (307) in his final season, Jesse Bromwich (303 in the twilight of his career) and Ben Hunt, who gains entry when the Dragons play North Queensland on Saturday night, and is 33 and likely to retire when his contract runs out in 2025.