SC classic match: Another day, another Joey double ton

• SC CLASSIC MATCH: Joey Johns Origin masterclass

When looking at classic matches that relate directly to SuperCoach, it’s hard to go past an encounter that Andrew Johns played in and where his side put up 70 points.

That was exactly the case here and I have watched the old tape from the clash with Canberra in Round 2, 2006.

It was a hot afternoon for this early season fixture and I’ll tell you what, the bigger bodies simply couldn’t handle it.

As a result, there was an NRL record 102 points scored (70-32) and Joey Johns had an absolute field day.

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The great man simply tore up the Raiders primarily with his passing game, but also through a combination of short and long kicking, running and of course goal-kicking.

I feel as though he could have scored even more if he decided to take on the line a little more but he essentially didn’t need to as he picked off runners at will to send his outside men crashing over for try after try.

Special mention to excitement machine Milton Thaiday who had an absolute blinder at fullback and also a young Kurt Gidley who killed it himself.

The full match replay is below if anyone is interested:

For those who didn’t see much of Joey Johns he was for mine the greatest player I’ve ever seen lace up a boot.

Cameron Smith is very special but Joey’s skill set was beyond my wildest dreams and his running game, especially close to the line, was simply deadly.

You can add in the fact that he was one of the all-time great defenders for his position. He was consistently putting bigger blokes on their backside and his ability to build pressure on opposing sides from most parts of the field meant that he was simply outstanding in all facets of rugby league. I could talk Joey for days!!

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In this encounter Johns tallied two tries, five try-assists, 11 conversions, two offloads, five linebreak assists, one linebreak, two try contributions and a ridiculous 40-20 early in the game.

The incredible part is that he only had one tackle bust for the match and as mentioned above if he decided he was in a real running mood he may well have matched or beaten his unofficial SuperCoach record of 281 (also against the Raiders).

As an avid Joey fan I try to watch as many old games with him as possible. So far that has uncovered 2x double tons, but I sense there could be more. I’ll keep everyone up to date if I find more.

Stat	Tally	Points
Try	2	34
Try-assist	5	60
Goals	11	44
Runs	4 (3x over 8m, 1x under 8m)	7
Tackle	10	10
Offload	2	8
Tackle bust	1	2
Linebreak	1	10
Linebreak assist	5	40
Try contribution	2	8
40/20	1	10
Missed tackle	1	-1
Error	1	-2
Missed goal	1	-2
Total		228 points