His final try came from a Jahrome Hughes intercept, while the first three were a result of lovely Mitchell cut-out passes.
How many tries has Johnston scored courtesy of Mitchell? How many did he score when standing on the outside of fellow Indigenous Souths legend Greg Inglis earlier in his career?
โI said to him at half-time, โyouโve got another try in youโ, and he said, โIโve got another couple in meโ,โ Souths coach Wayne Bennett said about Johnston.
โHeโs pretty pleased with himself, and we are, too.
โWeโre negotiating with him [about 2026]. We believe that will happen, but it hasnโt happened yet. Thereโs a bit more negotiating to be done.โ
One criticism of Johnston as heโs crept a little deeper into his career is his body shape and whether he has the ability to bust tackles early in the sets like most modern-day wingers are required to do. But the bloke has an uncanny knack of getting across the try line.
If Johnston and the milestone is a welcome talking point at Heffron Park, what about the form of Mitchell?
Alex Johnston helped himself to four tries for South Sydney.Credit: Getty Images
Mitchell was quiet by his own standards for NSW on Wednesday night in Perth, but played with a lot of energy and like a true leader for his club three nights later.
Loading
The way he knows exactly when to pull the trigger for Johnston cannot be under-estimated. Then what about his kick, early in the tackle count, to send Tyrone Munro over for the final try?
โHeโs a special player, he was special tonight โ so many players are missing, but heโs been standing up for us,โ Bennett said.
โI didnโt want to play him tonight, but with Jye Gray out with a broken thumb, I had to.โ
The headlines should have been about Johnston and Mitchell โ not the Storm, nor Papenhuyzen, nor coach Craig Bellamy who made it a 15th straight win over his Souths counterpart Bennett.
Melbourne were ordinary in the first half, completing at a tick over 60 per cent. It was hard to think of the last time they were so poor with the ball.
They scored a couple of tries in as many sets through Harry Grant and Jahrome Hughes, and it looked like being one of those nights where the Storm racked up a half-century for fun.
But they continued to invite Souths into the game, and the home side hit back through Johnston.
Had Souths been a bit more patient themselves, they could have made life more uncomfortable for the visitors.
Johnston was great. And Mitchell. But yet Melbourne won. Good olโ rugba leeg.
About The Author
