Injury ends Joey's legacy
By staff writers
April 10, 2007 ANDREW Johns, arguably the greatest rugby league player of all time, will announce his glittering career is over at a press conference in Newcastle today.
The Knights captain, who injured his neck in a freak training accident last Thursday after colliding with teammates Daniel Abraham and Adam Woolnough, received unfavourable results from scans taken this morning.
Rather than risk his long-term health, Johns, who had already retired from representative football despite rumour she might return to State of Origin with New South Wales this year, has accepted he has to say goodbye to the game as a player.
Last Friday, Johns gave an interview on Sydney radio station 2GB in which he admitted some of the sensations he felt in his body after the training accident "scared the life" out of him.
"I got a sensation in my leg, no numbness or pain down my arm like I've had before, and it scared the hell out of me," he said.
Johns, though, appeared confident at the time that he might be able to continue.
But the news from his doctors today and a host of world authorities on neck injuries convinced him otherwise.
Johns was due to address a media conference at 1pm (AEST) today, before his manager, John Fordham, announced that would be delayed by three hours.
"Andrew had a cat scan done this morning and that's been looked at by Professor John Yeo and (Newcastle Knights club doctor) Neil Halpin, with Andrew," Fordham said.
"There are still some considerations being made about the findings of the scan.
"No decision has been made yet in relation to his future football career but that will be determined in the next hour or so."
Asked if the delay meant the scan results on the former Australia captain were of more concern than initially though, Fordham said: "No.
"It's a process that's obviously very important because it's dealing with his ongoing football career."
Johns, 32, aggravated an injury in the training accident that initially occurred during his team's shock loss to Canberra Raiders last Monday night.
The star halfback has a history of neck injuries. He was forced to miss the last five matches of the 2003 season because of a bulging disc, which threatened to end his career at the time.
The two-time NRL Premiership winner is contracted to play with the Knights until the end of the 2008 season but was expected to make a decision on whether he would play on again next season midway through this year.
Johns has played club record 249 first grade games for the Knights as well as playing 23 matches for New South Wales, 21 Tests for Australia and was a member of the Kangaroos' 1995 and 2000 World Cup-winning teams.
Johns also had a brief stint with English club Warrington, where he played three matches for the Wolves in 2005.
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