Johnston thrilled to play

BRISBANE: It’s hard to imagine Alex Johnston, the proud La Perouse junior from South Sydney heartland, wearing any football colours except the famous cardinal and myrtle.
But rewind to midway through last season and Johnston had all but accepted that he’d have to reluctantly leave his beloved Rabbitohs.
If not for some eventual salary cap manoeuvring, the 26-year-old Papua New Guinea Kumuls representative wouldn’t have topped the try-scoring list for a second straight season this year. Nor would he be vying for a second premiership on Sunday.
It might be overshadowed by potential fairytale departures for Wayne Bennett, Adam Reynolds and Benji Marshall, but Johnston will have his own feel-good story if South Sydney trump Penrith.
“It’s hard to put into words because I love the club; I feel very lucky that I got the situation where I could stay eventually,” Johnston said
“Signing with Souths the last couple of years has been one of the best decisions for myself personally and for my family to stay in Sydney.”
Along with Reynolds and Tom Burgess, Johnston is one of the three remaining pieces from the 2014 triumph. A high-flying rookie at the time, he scored the first try in the grand final against the Bulldogs.
“Back then, I was just in awe still of playing first grade, just going out there and playing footy and loving every minute of it,” he said.
“After having six years after that of not making the GF, I’ve really understood the grind and how hard it is to actually make the GF.”
Many things have changed since South Sydney were last premiers, but Johnston noted a similarity between the eras.
He bagged 21 tries in 18 games in his debut season and has chalked up 29 tries in 21 matches so far this campaign. The Endeavour Sports High School product credits slick service for both hauls.
“I find myself very lucky that I reap all the rewards and benefits of putting the ball over the line,” Johnston said. – NRL

Penrith’s Martin will be missing his mom on the stands

BRISBANE: Not even a global pandemic has been able to discourage Penrith forward Liam Martin’s mum from trying to attend Sunday’s National Rugby League (NRL) grand final against South Sydney.
Looking back at Martin’s rugby league journey, few should be surprised.
His mum Maxine was there by his side every step of the way. And when your family lives on a Barmedman farm near West Wyalong, there are a lot of steps.
She lovingly drove her son to Penrith just to watch him play SG Ball footy in 2015 — a 10-hour round trip.
Martin — the youngest of five kids — reckons his mum would have racked up 1,000km a week ferrying around her sons to junior footy games.
A breast-cancer battle six years ago was the only thing that stopped her from missing a handful of his matches.
She is a western grandstand fixture at Panthers home games and was in the ANZ Stadium stands when Martin’s Panthers fell short in last year’s season decider.
Martin is only just starting to get used to not seeing her after matches with NRL teams relocating to Queensland hubs back in July.
Still, he reckons it “sucks” that she won’t be able to attend Sunday’s grand final due to Coronavirus border restrictions.– Yahoo Sports

To’o going into decider injured but optimistic

BRISBANE: Penrith winger Brian To’o knows he’ll be playing hurt in Sunday’s National Rugby League grand final against South Sydney.
He also knows it won’t stop him from doing all he can to erase the Panthers’ heartache from last year’s premiership decider defeat.
To’o’s arrival in a wheelchair to the Panthers’ media call on Monday may have been tongue-in-cheek but there’s no doubt the 23-year-old’s left ankle is far from 100 per cent.
The New South Wales State of Origin player suffered a syndesmosis injury in July and had to undergo surgery.
To’o returned earlier than expected for the round 24 clash against Wests Tigers, scoring a hat-trick the following weekend as the Panthers smashed an undermanned Parramatta in the final round of the regular season.
His ankle ruled him out of the semi-final win over the Eels in Mackay two weeks ago but he was back in the line-up to score a vital try in an upset preliminary final victory over Melbourne in Brisbane on Saturday.
Confounding expectations and proving people wrong is nothing new to To’o, who suffered a major setback as a junior when he missed selection to the Panthers’ under-16 squad.
Rather than kicking cans, To’o used the disappointment as motivation and returned the following year in such form he couldn’t be ignored by the club’s academy.
“That’s probably the first time I’ve kind of felt like I failed and I was actually really happy I failed because it obviously inspired me to keep moving forward,” To’o told AAP.
“My parents and my whole family and even my partner always kept encouraging me to never give up and I’m really grateful for that.” – AAP