South Sydney to extend Johnston to guarantee Irvine’s record falls

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are preparing to offer fan favourite finisher Alex Johnston a two-year extension, with the Redfern club eager to make sure the cult hero finishes his career as rugby league’s most prolific tryscorer.

Johnston has scored 206 tries in the NRL, just a half-dozen short of Kev Irvine’s incredible 212 tally, and may well bowl down the record some time in the 11 rounds left in the 2025 season.

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If he doesn’t, South Sydney wants to make sure Johnston does still get the chance — and club brass are eager to make sure the 234-game star sees out his time in rugby league playing in the cardinal and myrtle at Heffron Park.

It’s a huge turnaround from when the Rabbitohs bosses told Johnston he could leave in 2020. That decision was eventually wound back, though only after South Sydney members staged an uproar; many cancelled memberships, and some called club bosses personally to explain the Johnston decision had been why they’d cut up cards.

“I’ve always wanted to be a one-club man. There’s just nothing there for me [at Souths] at the moment,” Johnston said at the time, before anything had been resolved. “Wherever I end up, I’ll play my best footy there and finish my career strong.”

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He certainly is, even as the ‘where’ continues to be Redfern; he’s expected to sign any deal Souths tables.