Best since Blacklock: Johnston eyes Ken Irvine Medal Three-Peat

South Sydney flyer Alex Johnston has taken out the Ken Irvine Medal the past two seasons and, with 25 tries through 20 games this season, has one hand on the gong for the third consecutive year – a feat that has not been accomplished since St. George Illawarra’s Nathan Blacklock at the turn of the century.

The Tingha-native crossed for 76 total tries over the 1999, 2000, and 2001 seasons and was awarded the Dally M Winger of the Year Award for each season.

His electric pace and unmatched flair helped him develop into a favourite amongst the Red V faithful and one of rugby league’s greatest Indigenous icons.

Johnston has scored 78 tries across the past three seasons and is due to appear in at least four more games this season for South Sydney – the club he has spent the entirety of his 186-game career with.

The 27-year-old has a six-try lead on Brisbane’s Corey Oates, who has enjoyed a career resurgence under Kevin Walters this season, whilst Canterbury’s Josh Addo-Carr, North Queensland’s Jeremiah Nanai, and Brisbane’s Selwyn Cobbo are some margin back.

If Johnston does indeed finish atop the try-scoring leaderboard, he will have become the first player in 21 years claim an elusive Ken Irvine Medal Three-Peat.

Accomplishments of this ilk are few and far between and rugby league trainspotters will be keeping a close eye on the La Perouse United junior’s final trio of regular season outings.

Before Blacklock, you have to go back pre-WWII to South Sydney icon Benny Wearing in the mid-1920s to find the last player to finish atop the try-scoring leaderboard for three consecutive seasons whilst former Eastern Suburbs flanker Gordon Wright is the only other player to achieve the feat in premiership history, having done so four seasons earlier.

Irvine himself never managed to do it, nor did Reg Gasnier or Frank Burge or Eddie Lumsden or Bob Fulton.

Modern-day try-scoring freaks Brett Stewart, Billy Slater, Matt Bowen, Suliasi Vunivalu and Nathan Merritt had shots at it but fell short.

Johnston has the opportunity to become just the fourth player in the premiership’s 114-year history to finish atop the try-scoring leaderboard in three consecutive seasons.

With it, he will also take out the fourth Ken Irvine Medal of his career, joining the medal’s namesake as the only players in premiership history reach that mark on four occasions; history beckons for one of South Sydney’s favourite sons and his quest towards the try-scoring mountaintop is far from complete.

Under contract until the end of 2025, Johnston will have every opportunity to continue climbing the all-time leaderboard and make a beeline for Irvine’s long-standing record.

Currently 51 tries behind Irvine’s career total of 212, if Johnston was to replicate the three-year wave he is currently riding, he will have reached Irvine’s career total mid-way through the 2024 season and well before his 30th birthday, however, expecting him to continue his current try-scoring form may be unrealistic.

We often marvel at longevity and durability in rugby league because it has proven so difficult to achieve.

Johnston has appeared in 64 of South Sydney’s 71 games over the past three seasons – just over 90 per cent of them – and, whilst he has proven a durable competitor over the course of his nine-year career – having appeared in 186 of 218 possible games since his debut or a little over 85 per cent – it seems reasonable to expect that level of durability to be tested as he ages.

Even if we are conservative and assume he appears in three quarters of South Sydney’s clashes over the next three seasons, at his current strike rate he would break Irvine’s record sometime in late-2024 or early-2025.

In saying that, season 2022 is hardly in the history books; Johnston is all but guaranteed at least four more games and has scored 17 tries over his past nine.

Depending on how deep Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, and company can drag the Bunnies into the postseason, Johnston could easily find himself among the top five try-scorers of all-time by season’s end.

Given the potency of South Sydney’s attack over the past half-decade and the rate with which Johnston finds himself on the end of neat attacking sets, the question may not be if he surpasses Irvine but when.

Nothing is guaranteed in rugby league but for those with a special interest in the game’s history or sporting history for that matter, keep a close eye on the try-scoring freak in red-and-green.

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