Andrew Johns
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrew Johns | |
| Date of birth | May 19, 1974 | |
| Place of birth | Kurri Kurri, Australia | |
| Height | 1.79 m | |
| Weight | 89 kg | |
| Nickname | Joey | |
| Position | Halfback | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Newcastle Knights | |
| Number | 7 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Cessnock | ||
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
| 1993–present 2005 |
Newcastle Warrington |
245 (2156) 3 |
| Representative teams** | ||
| 1995–2003 1995–2005 1995–2006 |
Country Origin New South Wales Australia |
3 23 (96) 21 |
|
* Professional club appearances and points |
||
- This article is about the rugby league player. For the triathlete, see Andrew Johns (triathlete).
Andrew "Joey" Johns (born May 19, 1974) is an Australian rugby league player. He usually plays half-back, but has played in other positions at times throughout his career. He is considered one of the modern greats of the game, and has been heralded as the world's best player for a number of years.
Johns currently captains the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League, for whom he has played a record 242 games (as of 2-Aug-2006). Johns has also represented his country at two World Cups, and one Kangaroos tour, playing in 21 Test matches for the national side. He played in 23 games for New South Wales in State of Origin, captaining the side to a series win in 2003, and twice for the Country Origin side in 1995 and 1996.
Contents |
[edit] Football career
[edit] Early days
Andrew Johns was born in Cessnock, in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, a rugby league heartland inland from Newcastle. Andrew and older brother Matthew Johns, sons of former coal miner and highly respected Cessnock "Goannas" rugby league player and later captain/coach Gary Johns, initially played soccer from a young age, showing great promise.
After playing junior rugby league in Cessnock, Andrew Johns joined the Newcastle Knights in 1989. Although he was tested off the bench in the 1993 season, he made his first grade debut in the starting line up in 1994, when, in the last trial of the year, Matthew Rodwell, Newcastle's regular halfback sustained a knee injury giving Johns an opportunity against the South Sydney Rabbitohs. In his debut match he scored 23 points and won the man-of-the-match award, making an immediate impact. He soon formed a partnership with his older brother Matthew, who played five-eighth.
[edit] 1995-2001
The 1995 season saw prosperous times for Johns, as he was picked to represent New South Wales in the prestigious State of Origin competition and went on to play in Australia's successful retention of the World Cup in England. Success for Johns continued through into the 1996 season, until mid-season when he began to tire. Johns began to question what value rugby league was in his life. Following a surfing holiday to the Philippines at the end of the season, Johns began a journey of self-discovery. After witnessing the poverty of the natives in that country, he realised how lucky he really was.
Putting 1996 behind him, he played a pivotal role when the Knights reached the 1997 Australian Rugby League grand final against Manly. There were grave concerns that Johns would be unable to play the game, as he had a received three broken ribs and a punctured lung only a fortnight ago. Local newspaper headlines even read "You Will Die". However, Johns defied the odds to play, and was able to win the game for the Knights by setting up a try for Darren Albert with six seconds remaining in the game. The partnership with his brother Matthew was broken in 2000 when salary cap pressures forced Matthew to leave the club and join British club Wigan.
Andrew Johns would soon become captain of the Knights, despite initial concerns after the retirement of Paul Harragon, and lead them to another grand final win, defeating the Parramatta Eels 30-24 in 2001. He was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for man of the match.
[edit] 2002-2005
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. He also won the Dally M Medal for a record third time, a feat achieved by none other to-date.
Johns has been plagued by injury in the past few seasons, often before or during the finals series. He injured his neck and damaged the ligaments in his left ankle when he rolled it. He broke his jaw in 2005, picked up a knee ACL injury which kept him out of most of the 2004 season, he had a serious back injury that threatened his career in 2003 and he broke his back during the 2002 finals.
Johns created a national debate in 2004 after receiving a massive offer from rugby union to switch codes. Numerous past legends of both codes expressed their opinions, and the only thing everybody agreed on was the fact Andrew would be a star for the Wallabies if he switched codes. 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. He says his decision was massively affected by his son, who wanted him to stay in league.
In June 2005, Andrew Johns was picked to replace injured halfback Trent Barrett in the New South Wales State of Origin squad, returning from a series of injuries that sidelined him for a number of weeks. Johns went on to play the game, receiving man of the match honours. He also went on to play in the deciding third game of the series.
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 and any playoff games the Wolves might get to. The Knights first made him sign a new contract, making him available to captain the team until the end of 2008.
[edit] 2006
Johns scored 30 points against Canberra in Round 2 of the 2006 competition, and in doing so claimed the point scoring record for a single club, surpassing Mick Cronin's 1,971 points for Parramatta.
On the 5th of May, Johns played in his 21st and final Test match for the Kangaroos at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, with Australia defeating New Zealand by 50 points to 12.
On the 30th June 2006, it was announced that Andrew Johns would play for the NSW cricket side for their Twenty20 series; which sparked a lot of media interest, with some suspecting a Public Relations stunt. Johns was reported in the media admitting that he could neither bat nor bowl very well.
On Saturday the 8th of July against the Parramatta Eels, Andrew Johns converted a try scored by Riley Brown and became the highest point scorer in Australian first grade rugby league history, eclipsing Jason Taylor's previous record of 2,107 points. This came, ironically, in a 40-12 loss to the Eels who were coached by Jason Taylor.
During a round 24 match against Manly, controversy struck as Andrew Johns audibly called side line official Matt Ccechin a "f---ing c---". In the following days the event created immense media hype with Johns eventually being suspended for two weeks with a contrary conduct charge. However later, when appealing the weighting of the contrary conduct charge, Johns formally apologised.
[edit] Achievements
As of July 7th 2006
[edit] First grade for Newcastle Knights
- 239 games (club record).
- 78 tries
- 903 goals (club record)
- 22 field goals (club record)
- 2156 points (club record and the most points ever scored by an individual)
[edit] NRL Records
Match records
- Most tries in a match: 4 - July 29, 2001 (record shared with Darren Albert and Adam MacDougall)
- Most goals in a match: 11 - March 19, 2006
- Most points in a match: 34 - July 29, 2001
Season records
- Most goals in a season: 110 - 2001
- Most points in a season: 279 - 2001
- Most field goals in a season: 5 - 1998
Club records
- Most goals for club - 903
- Most points for club - 2156
- Most field goals for club - 22
- Most First Grade games - 230
[edit] Representative honours
- Test matches - 21 (1995-4, 1996-2, 1997-1, 1998-3, 1999-1, 2000-1, 2001-4, 2002-1, 2003-1, 2005-2, 2006-1) - captained in 2 matches (2002-2003)
- State Of Origin - 23 (1995-2, 1996-3, 1997-2, 1998-3, 1999-3, 2000-2, 2002-3, 2003-3, 2005-2) - captained in 6 matches (2002-2003)
- Country Origin: 3 (1995, 1996, 2003) - captained in 1 match (2003)
- World Cups : 1995 and 2000 (1995 World Cup Matches Counted as Test Matches. 2000 Matches did not)
- Kangaroo tour : 2001 (All matches counted as Test Matches)
[edit] Awards
- Dally M winner : 3 (1998, 1999, 2002)
- Provan-Summons Medal winner : 5 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)
- Clive Churchill Medal : 1 (2001)
- Player of the Series Australia v Great Britain 2001
- Most Valuable Player in 1995 World Cup
- Rugby League Week's Player of the Year : 3 (1998, 1999, 2002)
