Alex Johnston needs only three tries to equal Ken Irvine’s long-standing record, having scored the most tries of any player in Australian rugby league’s top flight.
Irvine, who played a combined 236 games for North Sydney and Manly, sits top of the all-time leading scorers list, having amassed a whopping 212 tries during his glittering career.
And now, Johnston stands poised to tie level with the record, if he can find a trio of tries in the South Sydney Rabbitohs’ final three games of the season.
The Bunnies come up against the Eels on Saturday afternoon at the Allianz Stadium, and there is hope that he could even match or overtake Irvine’s record, with a hat-trick or quartet of tries.
And it’s not a totally inconceivable feat. Johnston has bagged 16 hat-tricks during his career, and if he manages to match Irvine’s record on Saturday, there will no doubt be plenty of celebrations among Souths fans at Moore Park.
Should he achieve the feat, some fans could even invade the pitch, just as Sydney Swans supporters did when AFL immortal Buddy Franklin booted his 1000th goal for the Red V, back in 2022.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have warned fans to not storm the field if Alex Johnston (centre) breaks a huge record on Saturday against the Eels at the Allianz Stadium
Johnston needs only three tries to equal Ken Irvine’s (pictured) long-standing record, having scored the most tries of any player (212) in Australian rugby league’s top flight
In anticipation of the landmark event, the Souths are urging fans not to enter the field of play at the Allianz arena.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that their main concern is due to the pitch.
New South Wales has experienced a deluge of rain over the past month and concerns have continued to mount over the Allianz Stadium’s playing surface.
It comes as the NRL is set to host three games in three days, as part of the NRL’s Gadhu Gathering round.
Grounds staff at the Allianz Stadium have deployed a range of LED lights this week, in a bid to dry out the playing surface so that it is ready for action come Friday night.
The Souths have expressed worries about health and safety among spectators for the match against the Eels , who also risk being slapped with a $5,500 fine and a two-year ban from the venue, under the Sydney Cricket and Sportsground Act 1978, should they choose to enter the pitch.
The club are understood to be more comfortable if fans stormed the pitch after full-time of their game against St George on Thursday, if Johnston topples Irvine’s record during Round 25 at the Accor Stadium.
‘Everyone is getting increasingly excited as ‘AJ’ gets closer to the record, but it’s also hard to predict when it will happen,’ Bunnies CEO Blake Solly said.
Johnston needs to score three tries to tie level with Irvine’s record, he could do so this week, having score 16 hat-tricks in his career
But Souths bosses are keen for fans not to storm the pitch amid fears that they could injure themselves and place divots in the turf of the brand now stadium
‘When he does break the record, we’re asking fans to not immediately storm the field of play.
‘Our members and fans can be assured they will get a chance to celebrate with Alex post-match, but to wait until the final whistle before the celebrations really start.’
Despite that, Johnston’s team-mate, Tallis Duncan, hopes fans storm the pitch to celebrate their flying winger’s achievement.
‘He’s amazing, he’s the best at what he does, and what he does is score tries,’ he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
‘He makes it look easier than what it is. A lot of the time ‘Trell’ [Latrell Mitchell] and Cody [Walker] don’t even have to look, they just pass to the right place and AJ is there every single time.’
He even revealed that some among the Souths’ playing cohort are even talking about who will set him up for the try.
‘Everyone is really excited for him. We’ve got boys talking about, ‘who wants to be the one to throw the [final] pass,’ Duncan added.
‘I don’t know if I’ll get into trouble with the NRL for saying this, but it would be mad to see [fans storm the pitch].
Fans flocked onto the field after Buddy Franklin scored his 1000th goal for the Sydney Swans
‘I know they did it for Buddy Franklin in the AFL, and it was cool to watch. I hope it’s celebrated by the NRL, rather than people getting in trouble.’
It comes after multiple players have lashed out at the $828million stadium’s playing surface.
Huge puddles, divots and muddy conditions have become a common feature of NRL games at the stadium over the past two years.
Parramatta captain Clint Gutherson claimed the field was ‘one of the worst he had played on’ last year as rain fell before a match between the Eels and the Roosters last August.
But it appears drainage issues are continuing to impact the state-of-the-art footy stadium, which was opened in 2022.
Lindsay Collins even told The Sydney Morning Herald: ‘There’s something wrong with this field. It’s not crash hot. You have to deal with it.
‘We were saying they should have put a roof on. I think the original plan was to put a roof on. The money they’ll invest to rip it all up, maybe they should have put a roof on.’
Roosters captain James Tedesco called on Venues New South Wales to ‘sort out’ the stadium’s playing surface.
‘For a first-class, elite stadium like this that hosts a lot of top-line clubs in Australia, and around the world, the surface needs to be top class, as the stadium is,’ Tedesco said.
‘They need to sort that out.
‘Every time we play here, it’s slippery and wet. It’s not the driest conditions.’
