South Sydney Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston’s four try haul against the Melbourne Storm has him within touching distance of Ken Irvine’s try-scoring record.
Irvine’s 212 is currently enough for pole position on the NRL’s all-time leading tryscorer leaderboard, but Johnston’s fourth, grabbed him in the 53rd minute of his side’s Round 16 clash against Melbourne, has him closer than any one’s ever been knocking Irvine off his perch.
“Intercept! This is four. 206. He’s piling them up. Johnston, he might get there tonight. This is just remarkable,” Fox League’s Dan Ginnane said on commentary.
“Forget the record, that’s an extraordinary play,” he later added.
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Co-commentator Kevin Walters commended Johnston’s “magic effort.”
“Anticipation from the winger. He was sweating on the pass. They better get that trophy ready. What an effort,” he said.
Earlier in the contest,, Johnston completed his hat-trick, with each try coming courtesy of a perfect cut out ball from Latrell Mitchell, who must have created a fair chunk of the winger’s four pointers to date.
Not only is he within touching distance of Irvine’s record, the 30-year-old is now the first player to ever score four tries in a single game against Melbourne.
Having scored his first try on debut in Round 8 of the 2014 season against the Brisbane Broncos, Johnston has now gone on to score 206 career tries, just six shy of Irvine.
Irvine’s record has stood since his retirement in 1993, with Storm legend and current Maroons coach Billy Slater mounting the previous best attempt at breaking it, but ultimately falling short and retiring with 190 careers.
Johnston is now poised to go one better and become the NRL’s all-time leading try scorer, and could do so in the coming weeks.
