Alex Johnston, the NRL's all-time leading try-scorer and the South Sydney Rabbitohs' most homegrown talisman, has officially signed for the PNG Chiefs as their second marquee player from 2028. The 31-year-old will see out his current Rabbitohs deal — which has another year and a half to run — before relocating to Port Moresby for the start of the expansion side's second NRL season.
Johnston was open about how the decision sat against the player he had hoped to be. "I am excited but at the same time, knowing that I wanted to be a one-club player and wanted to be in the red and green for my whole career — to make this decision, it was very difficult," Johnston said. "I still got a year and a half. So I'm excited for what we can achieve together for the next year and a half."
The pull, he said, was heritage. "It was almost like a duty or an obligation when the team got announced. I felt like I had to go over there and just to represent my family — my nan — as best I can. I only get to go over twice a year if I'm lucky through the Kumuls and the work I do with Lae Biscuit. So I love when I go over there, obviously the atmosphere when I'm playing, but obviously the community and how they get around rugby league. So now I get to go over in 2028 and have a whole year and hopefully, you know, as much as I can get out there and try and affect change and use rugby league as a driver to put smiles on people's faces and unite a country."
The news came against the backdrop of an awkward week in which Johnston had appeared to break the signing prematurely after Jerome Luai's deal with the Chiefs was announced. He addressed the criticism directly. "There's no intent to sabotage anything," Johnston said. "I genuinely thought I'd signed and I straight, I was at a party with my family. So I told them the day before I'm signing, and the next morning walked in and told the guys in the locker room after training, told Wayne and Sully. I didn't really realise that wasn't official yet. So that was just me being premature and going off early. I called Chamas and Lorna and just apologised for that, and just said, look, I really want to go. I don't mind being the second signing. Just being over there is what I want, and yeah, they're happy to move forward and get the deal done."
Former Premiership winner Benny Russell, speaking on Fox Sports' NRL Tonight, framed the signing as a generational moment for Papua New Guinean rugby league. "It really shows and gives a pathway for Papua New Guinea kids to know that they can actually go towards playing in their national team but also in this local NRL competition," Russell said. "You can't be what you can't see. And these young kids have grown up watching Alex Johnston, watch him become the game's greatest ever try scorer and now that path becomes more of a reality."
For the PNG Chiefs' build, the Johnston-Luai axis gives the expansion club a marquee back combination that Russell argued the rest of the recruitment plan should now hang off. "Having him there now as a second marquee signing, he's just a bigger advocate, bigger voice for them and we'll get that following even more," Russell said. "Even though they're crazy about their football over there, having a genuine person with a heritage of Papua New Guinea is the best thing for them."
Asked who CEO Michael Chammas should be chasing next, Russell pointed at the most decorated production line in the competition. "It's hard for me to say, but I'd go for the 12 people that are coming off at Penrith at the moment," he said. "Literally they have the right program at Penrith and to take that type of caliber of player up to Papua New Guinea is nothing but probably the best."
For Johnston, the next 18 months are about a Rabbitohs side currently riding form into a clash with the in-form Cronulla Sharks — a Sharks defence Russell warned could find itself stretched. "South playing some really good football," he said. "They're smooth. They're fluent. Sharks a little bit disjointed even though they're winning by a lot. They need to come up against sides that attack well and South are that type of team."
The scoring streak Johnston carries into the weekend — eight games in a row — will be a number to watch. The other one, the personal one, is harder to put into a stat sheet: a player who wanted to be a one-club Rabbitoh, choosing instead to be the face of his country's NRL franchise the moment it opens its doors.
