Alex Johnston

[Raiders_Premiers]

Probably the best winger I've ever seen at positioning himself correctly and being in the right place at the right time - both attributes which take a lot of skill and understanding of the game.

If you look across the board, a try:game ratio of 0.5 for a winger is very good. Johnston is at 0.87 with 230 games under his belt - remarkable consistency. We've all heard the claims that all he does is catch the ball and fall over the line, but if it were that easy then others would be doing it for over a decade too.

 

[moffla]

He does the simple things extremely well. Not flashy, hardly ever in the highlights reel for scoring spectacular tries or the like but just knows where to be and makes the right decision far more often than not.

In 15 years time people might struggle to remember what he looks like but he’ll hold the games try scoring record for a long, long time.

 

[speedster]

His first 100 tries took 141 games. His 2nd 100 tries took 90.

Obviously those 2 seasons in a row where he scored 30 tries in each has fast tracked him but that's some going. He's topped 20 tries in a season 6 times out of 11 completed seasons thus far. He's scored more try multiples than anyone in the history of the game.

Sure he is great at being on the end of those great passes, kicks and shift plays, but he also makes them pass to him by being exactly where he is and catching their eye, calling it, based on the long term trust he and his ball players have had for each other for a long time.

 

[nick87]

Apologies. I re read my post and I’m come across bitchy. I love the guy because he’s dependable. Reading your reply, I absolutely understand your point too. Apologies if I was a merkin.

Na you're good, i took it as a passionate case/defence for a player you love.
I really just think he's just not THAT exciting of a player and thats why there is a decent portion of fans who are nonplussed about it... mind you a mate of mine had a great point when talking about this in a group chat... right now he's still 13 tries away, no guarantee he even gets it this year... but once he's within 5 it's going to start to build and when he's within a hatty of it, those games are probably going to be mandatory viewing in case he gets it

So maybe the excitement and hype around it will build more and captivate the wider NRL audiance when he's closer to the mark

 

[yobbo84]

Robert Jennings was a complete spud who scored a shitload of tries on Souths left edge in 2018.

That's the thing though. Any spud can do it once. AJ has done it for 10+ years.

And he doesn't get enough credit for being a key reason as to why he goes over untouched.

 

[Marshall_magic]

He’s a very good finisher who has played on the end of some very good back lines. He will probably break the record unless he cops a bad injury. As mentioned he’s a great finisher and knows where to be to score a try, but as a winger lacks other key elements to his game, his donkey yardage is not at the level of someone like To’o for example.

It will be interesting to see how long it lasts, as players spend more time in the NRL due to super league no longer being a big end of career payday and general conditioning of players improving. About 15-20 years ago you started on the wing then moved into the centres, now the opposite tends to happen and wingers (attacking wise at least) are more important than centres. Although gun wingers often tend to move to fullback now (AJ had a stint there so did Morris, Hayne and others). I don’t think his record stands for half as long as Irvines did.