Joey in stitches -  12 Jan 2003 
ANDREW Johns's preparations for the World Sevens next month suffered a setback after a freak surfing accident early yesterday resulted in a gash to his knee that required nine stitches. On the Gold Coast for the Burleigh Heads Single Fin competition -- where he was also speaking as patron of Ronald McDonald house -- Johns was launching himself off rocks when the incident occurred. "I've split my knee open and got nine stitches," said Johns, who was in good spirits despite the incident. I was spewing about it when it happened, but I toughed it out and finished my heat. It didn't do me much good, I still came last. It's nothing really, just stitches. I'm definitely going to be right for the Sevens. I'm looking forward to that -- this won't be a problem, it's just a cut." 
The Kangaroo captain started running only last week after recovering from minor groin surgery. Coach Michael Hagan said his captain was hungry and looking forward to the start of the season.  It remains to be seen how much of a setback yesterday's incident will be, and whether Hagan is prepared to risk his captain in the Sevens. "I'm sure I'll be right, but it depends on how this comes up and what Hages says," Johns said. "I can't believe I slipped and smashed myself. I'll see how it goes over the next few days." 

Johns spends night in hospital - 14 Jan 2003 
Andrew Johns is in danger of missing rugby league's World Sevens after spending last night in a Queensland hospital. Johns was named in the Knights' sevens squad today by coach Michael Hagan, but a final decision on whether he plays in the international tournament will be made when he returns to Newcastle. Johns had stitches inserted in a leg cut after a surfing accident on Queensland's Sunshine Coast last week. He was scheduled to fly back to Newcastle yesterday, but instead spent a night in hospital on antibiotics to guard against infection. "I guess Andrew Johns and Timana Tahu would have some question marks on them because of the surgery they had and they have also had additional injuries," Hagan said today. "Andrew Johns cut his knee during the week in a surfing mishap and Timana Tahu rolled his ankle last Saturday morning at training. "We need to assess how they are and if they're not right they won't play but at this stage they're both keen to play if they're fit." 
Johns has had one of the worst off-seasons of his career, spending the early part of it recovering from broken bones in his back before undergoing minor groin surgery. However, he's itching to play in the sevens after being forced to watch the Knights' make an early exit from last year's finals series following his back injury. The Knights - two-time winners of the sevens - are expected to rank among the favourites for the tournament. But that ranking could go out the window if Johns is ruled out. The Test halfback was the mastermind behind the Knights' last sevens win in 1996, taking out the player of the tournament award and scoring two tries in the final as Newcastle beat North Sydney 48-18. "The club has a bit of history in having won a couple of sevens tournaments," said Hagan, who captained the Knights to victory in 1991. "We'll approach it in the right manner and I'm sure the players will give a good account of themselves." 

Johns to play sevens series,  28 Jan 2003 
Andrew Johns will lead Newcastle in this weekend's World Sevens tournament after recovering from a surfing accident. Johns needed nine stitches in his knee and had to spend a night in hospital when he slipped on some rocks at a Gold Coast surf carnival two weeks ago. The injury originally threatened to jeopardise his sevens campaign. "Everything's fine and I think I'm going to play in the sevens this weekend," Johns said. "I'm really looking forward to it and come the rest of the season I will be right." The news comes as a huge boost for Johns, who has had a frustrating off-season. Aside from recovering from the fractured back bones he sustained in last year's finals series, he also had off-season groin surgery followed by the knee injury. But the world's best player has again demonstrated his freakish ability to recover from injuries faster than expected by declaring himself fit for the sevens. Newcastle coach Hagan was cautious about the news his star player will be fit for the sevens. "I've left the decision in Joey's hands all along so if he is keen to play then we are certainly happy to have him there," Hagan said. "Since returning from the surfing tournament in Queensland he has been training strongly with the rest of the team. "But I will probably still wait until a little bit later in the week before making sure that he is 100 per cent right to play." Johns put his knee through a different kind of fitness test yesterday when he enjoyed a relaxing round of golf with Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh and golfing great Greg Norman. The trio tested their swings on the newly opened Norman-designed course called The Vintage in the Hunter Valley town of Pokolbin. 

Joey in touch with his roots - 5 Feb 2003 
Young Jake Harvey couldn't believe his luck yesterday. For that matter, neither could the rest of his Cessnock Goannas under-8s team-mates. Here they were, starring alongside their hero, Knights captain Andrew Johns as the cameras rolled in his home town as part of a new NRL commercial to launch the 2003 season. "He won't stop talking about this - this will make his year," Jake's mum said as her son was filmed passing the ball to the world's best player. "He has been playing footy for two years and lives and breathes Joey and the Knights. "We didn't even know what this was for. He just wanted to see Joey." For Johns, the two-hour shoot at Cessnock's Mt View Park was a trip back in time. "I think it was the under-9s when I started playing and I was 14 or 15 when I last played here," he said. As he chatted and joked around with his awe-struck sidekicks, Johns said the NRL's initiative to involve the game's young players was extremely worthwhile. "I remember as a kid myself what it was like to get the chance to meet your idols," he said. "It is something you never forget and it is good to be able to do this sort of thing." Johns, meanwhile, played down suggestions his groin is a major concern five weeks out from the start of the premiership. He said the fact he played only the Knights' opening match in the World Sevens last weekend had nothing to do with him aggravating the injury in their first-round loss to Manly. "It was just precautionary - nothing more," he said. "There wasn't mmuch point risking it when we couldn't go any further in the competition. "There is going to be some discomfort there most of the time. "I have resigned myself to that and I just have to manage it the best I can." Johns and his Knights team-mates will go into camp for three days from today at Narrabeen. 

Joey's back to his best - The Daily Telegraph, 13 February, 2003
A rejuvinated Andrew Johns has conquered personal fears about his long-term future in the game and is ready to start the NRL season at the peak of his powers. The Newcastle and Australia captain yesterday revealed he had spent part of the off-season deeply concerned his body might not stand up to the rigours of top level rugby league beyond this season. "I've been really worried about it," Johns said. "You start thinking the body might be telling you something when things seem to keep going wrong.  But just in the last few weeks, I've started to feel really good again and I'm now raring to go." 
After recovering from broken bones in his back suffered during last season's finals series, Johns was forced to undergo surgery before Christmas to remove scar tissue build-up from a previous groin operation. While the surgery was a success, he is still troubled by the injury and is undergoing regular treatment both in Sydney and Newcastle. "There have been days when I have wondered whether I will be able to go on beyond the end of this season," he said.  "Not just with the way the groin has been feeling but with the body in general. "There has been a lot of little niggles and its been a bit of a struggle. But I've got through it and picked up the fitness and I'm really confident now. "We trained really hard last night and everything feels fine today so I am really confident there will be no further dramas. "I am probably stuck with the groin problem - it's going to be just a matter of getting as much treatment on it as I can and managing it as best as I can."

Jolly Johns skites about Knights -  7sport,  20 February 2003
Okay Newcastle fans, get ready for the news you wanted to hear. 
Andrew Johns, Newcastle's captain, halfback and club talisman, has a good feeling about the Knights in the 2003 National Rugby League season. Entering his 11th season, Johns believes the club's player mix is right for the Knights to claim a third title. We know it's only February, but you can imagine the champagne corks already popping in Newcastle.  As always, the Knights' premiership aspirations will live and die with their playmaking No.7, and Johns is itching to start the season after having the longest break he can remember. A back injury which curtailed last year and minor groin surgery in the off-season made sure of that. Add to that a surfing accident, which forced Johns to spend three days in hospital, and the Test captain was off the training paddock until January. "It's probably the biggest break I have had," said Johns, who is preparing for his 11th season. "When I hurt my back it was probably three months before I started to run. I put my feet up and relaxed, got away from football."
But Johns is now back and focused on winning another premiership. The 28-year-old could sniff one last season before an errant knee from St George Illawarra prop Luke Bailey derailed his and the club's title defence in the finals series. "I think we were on the verge of going well but it was taken away," John says of their season-ending defeat by the eventual premier, the Sydney Roosters, the following week. "I have a really good feeling about this year...with the senior players and the younger players coming through," Johns says. "Those young players got a taste of it a bit earlier than they should have (last season). I think we will churn out two or three this year. "I don't want to put too much pressure on them but I think they will be really good."
And what about Johns himself?
Despite his season ending with injury, the Newcastle captain still enjoyed another outstanding year.  He captained NSW and Australia, won his third Dally M player of the Year award and cemented his position as the finest player in the game. "There's a lot of things I still want to do. Winning a premiership with Newcastle is a big goal. "That's why you play, to play in big games. It's the reason I play - to win premierships for the club."   Now that would be a good feeling.

Sizing up men of match -  13 March 2003 
ANDREW Johns, the world's best player, will be part of a series of spectacular individual match-ups this weekend as the league season explodes into action in front of 140,000 fans. NRL officials are predicting the first round figure will hit 140,000 up substantially on the 115,000 for the first round last year. Newcastle captain Johns will oppose New Zealand Warriors' Test halfback Stacey Jones in an epic duel in Auckland on Sunday. "I love playing against the top halfbacks because there is an added challenge there - Stacey is someone I respect," Johns said last night. 

Joey chases a fourth Dally M - SMH,  13/03/2003
It would taken an extremely brave punter with deep pockets to bet against Andrew Johns winning his fourth Dally M medal this year.  As the games premier player the Australian, NSW and Newcastle captain and halfback won a record third medal last year.  Had it not been for a suspension in 2001, Johns probably would already have four medals in his bulging trophy cabinet.  That year the Dally M medal went to the then Cronulla star Preston Campbell, who has now joined his old coach John Lang at Penrith. Dally M rules have since been amended to ensure players who are suspended no more than once suffers a deduction of three Dally M points for every match he is banned.  Players suspended for a second time in a season are automatically ruled out of contention. Although Johns will start the Telstra Premiership as the player most likely to be crowned Dally M king, there will be no shortage of rivals and not all of them will the usual suspects.  A cursory glance at the nine positions on the field provides an early insight into the depth of talent in the NRL, this year capable of either winning the medal or taking out a position award. The Dally M's traditionally reward excellance across the board in rugby league with gongs also going to the coach, captain, rookie and rep player of the year. 

'Jaded' Joey gives Knights the edge -  March 17 2003
Newcastle players revealed they had conducted a deliberate campaign of misinformation regarding the fitness of Andrew Johns before the Australian captain tortured the Warriors with another performance of immense stature yesterday.  In a victory he later said would rank with the Knights' best this year - regardless of how far they go - Johns snatched a 36-26 win at Ericsson Stadium after his teammates single-mindedly battled back from being 16-0 down after 32 minutes.  Taken out after he kicked the ball on a couple of occasions, the celebrated No.7 responded by scoring the try that put his side in front, finding touch at a crucial time, then laying on the final try for winger Anthony Quinn with a raking cross-field kick. Rugby league's answer to David Beckham has now 82 points in four matches against the Aucklanders and quietly proved another point yesterday against Warrior Stacey Jones, who, during the summer, took from him the Golden Boot award as the world's best player. Newcastle even threw in a scrum win against the feed as they steamrollered the otherwise impressive Warriors in the final 15 minutes - a finish that tantalisingly sets up Friday night's game against the Roosters. Asked about the challenges on Johns by PJ Marsh and Monty Betham - neither of which crossed the line into blatant illegality - fullback Robbie O'Davis said: "We deliberately put it out there that 'Joey' was struggling a bit. We kind of told people that he was short of fitness, he didn't play much in the pre-season and came off early in the trial against North Queensland. The fact is, he could have finished that game easily. We just wanted them to think that. It might have helped us today, I don't know."

Simple plan for a complex man -  March 21 2003,  SMH
Andrew Johns loves rugby league. Some say to a fault. He never shirks the hard yards, loves to tackle, trains tirelessly. But now he is learning that when you are the most gifted player on the planet, less can sometimes be more. Steve Mascord reports. It was a simple act. Sitting in the dressing rooms at Ericsson Stadium last Sunday, Andrew Johns was scrubbing his boots, wary of vigilant customs officials back in Sydney.
But for coach Michael Hagan, a former journalist, the ritual said as much about Australia's rugby league captain as his feats 30 minutes earlier, when he had secured victory over the New Zealand Warriors with a series of plays that underscored his genius. Andrew Johns, the player of his generation, scrubbing his own boots.
"He's not put on a pedestal and doesn't place himself on one," Hagan said. "If you wanted to compare him to [Manchester United and England soccer player] David Beckham, I'm not sure that David would be doing those things."
Another favourite story of Hagan's concerns the trip back from Cairns following a pre-season game three weeks ago. Johns and a couple of teammates who had earned frequent-flyer points from travelling overseas with the national team were upgraded to business class. "Joey" swapped boarding passes with a teammate and ambled up the back of the plane, muttering something about Caesar visiting his troops. "I wouldn't expect people to clean my boots for me, even though it might sound trivial," the game's most famous player said yesterday on the way to a sportsman's luncheon in the Hunter Valley. "I think it would be quite degrading for me to get people to clean my boots."
Enough trees have died in the noble cause of providing newsprint to extol the virtues of 28-year-old Johns as a rugby league player. Just one goal tonight against the Roosters at EnergyAustralia Stadium and he will become just the sixth player in the 95-year history of the premiership to break the 1700-point barrier. Johns is one of the few individuals at the top level of any professional team sport, anywhere, who can single-handedly change the outcome of a game.  And there are endless stories of what a good bloke the lad from Cessnock is. "I find him a pretty generous sort of character," Hagan agreed. "He's always happy to put his hand in his pocket if there's something doing and he's always the first one to shout a beer."
But Johns is sportsman of such significance he demands more than lavish praise for his ability and one-dimensional platitudes for his demeanour. The fact is, Andrew Johns lives a life less ordinary than just about all of us. Everywhere he goes he is at best recognised, at worst mobbed. He is a person of unusual contrasts: a player with more natural talent than anyone else on the planet who has also become a tireless trainer; a man increasingly targeted by gossip columnists but who'll invite reporters out for a drink; a bloke who friends say can be the life of a party but just as likely withdraw to the borderline of depression.
Johns knows how to maximise his sleep on tour. He packs his bag before he goes to bed, gets dressed in whatever he has to wear the next day - even if it's a tie and blazer - and sets his alarm for five minutes before the bus leaves. He bounds out of bed like a well-dressed corpse rising from the dead, picks up the bag and launches himself into the new day. Yes, there is more to Andrew Johns than tries and goals and acceptance speeches and a cheeky grin. Getting to the bottom of it, however, isn't easy. What makes Joey tick?
That last apocryphal story provides a good clue: boundless, super-human enthusiasm. Johns has been advised to hold back in games this season and says he is giving it a try. It doesn't come easily - on Sunday he actually limped to a shoulder charge on a Warriors forward. "It's something 'Gus' [Blues Origin coach Phil Gould] spoke to me about last year and 'Hages' spoke to me about it," Johns said. "It's better me coming to life when the opposition is tired rather than the other way around. "It is hard to do. I like to get involved and handle the ball all the time. It's just something I've got to work on. I suppose when you're out there and the competitive juices are flowing, it's hard to hold back. Instead of making three or four tackles in a set, it's better for the team if I'm doing no defence, really." 
Johns's enthusiasm is not just limited to his 80 minutes on the field, his son Samuel, and the odd night out. "The pre-season has been a good example," Hagan said. "Taking kicking sessions with our young halfbacks, doing some extra work with hookers, back-rowers with the lines they should run. He does impart and pass on a lot of knowledge that he's not required to. He's happy to do that." So what keeps a man with everything going for him striving so hard for even more? He says he does not even know how much money he's got and "I don't need to wake up and read in the paper I'm playing well".  According to many people, it is the periods of deep introspection that could not be in sharper contrast with the knockabout image most associate with him. Johns rarely gives teammates a dressing-down on the field these days - but he hasn't stopped remonstrating with himself, mulling over every hurdle and tiny imperfection. During this interview, he said the debate over the Test captaincy last year "sucked a lot of energy out of me". 
Hagan commented: "I know when he's cranky, he knows when I am."   Evidently, even being the best in the world at what you do does not guarantee 24-hour happiness. But the perfectionism, frustration and occasional gloominess from which Johns suffers may well be what makes him great, what elevates him above his contemporaries. "He's always been a leader but to consistently front up and be the leading face sometimes sits uncomfortably with him," said his brother, Matthew. "Sometimes, you'd see the pressure mounting in his eyes, like he was going to explode. But now ... it's allowed him to take responsibility and go to the next level."
Johns has two years left at Newcastle. Asked whether he wants to end his career there, he answered: 'Probably. Maybe. I don't know. I've got this year and another year, and probably midway through next year I'm going to start weighing things up."
Johns has already thought about leaving town when his playing days are over, however. "I don't know what I'm going to do, whether I stay in Newcastle or move elsewhere. If I go into coaching, I don't know how I'd go coaching Newcastle ... the old tale that you're too close to players or whatever. "Sometimes I think I'd like to coach, sometimes I think, 'Just get away from it, kick back, enjoy life'. It's a while away." 
Hagan believes Johns would do well "coaching individuals or small groups".   The player agrees. "I've thought about that - instead of locking myself in to coaching one side, I suppose trouble-shooting for clubs and for players is an option.
"If someone's got a problem with their halfback, go and work with him for a couple of weeks."
Could the NRL's main attraction be seriously considering retirement in two years, at the age of 30? The following quote seems to suggest he may be: "I just want to win the comp. That's the big thing. The next couple of years, before I finish, I want to win a couple more comps. That's the big one for me."
On the way to the football tonight, Johns will hear car horns beeping at every traffic light. He'll have to fight his way through a phalanx of kids holding out autograph books when he gets out of his car. They'll shout out his name during the warm-up. Then he'll play football like no-one has quite been able to in a century. Life, he says, "can be complicated".
"I like the simple things in life. With footy and the way things go, it can get complicated but I like things pretty simple."
But there is nothing simple about Andrew Johns.

Joey shares trade secrets -  SMH,  March 21, 2003
Picture this. It's Sunday, October 5, 2003, at Telstra Stadium and the Bulldogs are taking on Newcastle in the grand final.  There are less than 30 seconds left in the big one and the Knights are coming off their own line in defence, clinging to a 20-18 lead. Referee Bill Harrigan raises his arm one final time in the match to signify the Bulldogs are on their fifth and last tackle as Braith Anasta gets the ball on a short blindside. He shapes to run before hoisting a banana kick back over his left shoulder, right into the arms of a flying Hazem El Masri, who dives in under the black dot for the match-winner. The Bulldogs have won and Anasta is the hero after coming up with the play of the season. Minutes later, Anasta seeks out a devastated Andrew Johns and, with real sincerity, mouths the words "thanks Joey, I owe this moment to you" before he is carried off by jubilant teammates. Pure fantasy maybe but not all of it is made up. The part about Anasta thanking Johns would more than likely happen. The Bulldogs playmaker is just one of a number of players - many of them from rival clubs - who Johns has gone out of his way to help during their careers. For some it has simply been just talking to them on the phone about how he plays the game. For others, like Anasta, he has shown them first hand the skills which have earned him the status of world's best player. Players like Anasta, Trent Barrett and Brett Finch, who Johns will confront tonight at EnergyAustralia Stadium when the Knights take on the Sydney Roosters, have all been influenced by the Test skipper. 
Johns would never last as a government agent. He is just too generous in giving away trade secrets. "I don't see it that way, although if it ever came back to bite me in a grand final or something like that, I'd probably have a few regrets," Johns said. "Basically, I enjoy helping other players out with tips on how I play and showing them how I do things. "I'd never knock anyone back if they wanted some advice or for me to show them something. I've done a fair bit with Braith and Trent at rep level and I had a couple of chats over the phone to (new Dragons halfback) Brett Firman last season.  Finchy (Rooster Brett Finch) is another I have had a bit to do with, although that was mainly when he was still up here and a lot younger. We have caught up over a beer or two since he burst on to the scene with Canberra and I have worked with young Gids [Kurt Gidley] here at the Knights a fair bit in the off-season. I enjoy the one-on-one stuff and if I can teach them something - well that's great. "I get a real kick out of watching players like Braith and Brent Sherwin or Baz [Barrett] doing things in games that I may have had an influence on." 
Finch grew up watching Andrew and his brother Matthew develop as players. "My dad [Robert] was coaching them in the lower grades at the Knights and I was ball-boying and tagging along to training," he said. "Looking back, that had a real influence on me because it showed me just how much time and effort was needed and Johnsy has always been there with some advice. But the best help I ever got from him was after a game in Canberra a couple of years ago when I kicked out on the full and gave away a penalty which lost us the game. "He went out of his way to give me encouragement and publicly said a heap of nice things about me at a time when I was feeling the lowest I ever have." 
Long term, Johns sees one-on-one coaching as a career opportunity.  "I don't particularly want to coach a side but I wouldn't mind offering myself around to clubs who want to use me at times to help their players." 
Anasta says Johns has had a big influence on his career, dating back to the Kangaroo tour at the end of 2001. "Joey would stay back after training and I'd hang around with him just to learn from him," Anasta says.  "He taught me stuff I had never seen before, which you couldn't pick up just by watching videos. How to hold the ball in attack to draw in defenders and the different angles to run and all the different varieties of kicks like bananas and grubbers and how to hold the ball for them." That was when Anasta was a young bloke in awe of what Johns could do at training. "It was freakish at times," Anasta said. "He'd call some play and tell us what he was going to do and then pull it off by hitting the exact spot with a kick or a pass. "We still talk every now and again on the phone and there have been times when I have sought out his advice about a certain team because he knows all the players so well and what to expect." 
It is not just the current stars Johns is happy to help.  Last December he spent a day in Canberra with a group of teenage league players during a camp at the AIS. AIS coach and former Dragon Brian Johnson said the players were in awe of him. "The kids were beside themselves with excitement," he said. Johns believes he doesn't own the skills which have made him what he is today. "Things like the banana kick are not new," he said. "Ricky Stuart was the first player I saw do it, so to a certain extent I have copied him. "You spend so much time kicking the footy around and mucking around with new ideas that sometimes you come up with something which works. The key though is being able to perform it under pressure in games." 

Joey earns more points against Warriors - The Herald, 22 March 2003
The New Zealand Warriors are sick of the sight of Andrew Johns.  Joey helped himself to 16 points from a try and six goals in last Sundays 36 - 26 victory at Ericsson Stadium, giving him 82 points from Newcastles past four games against the Warriors.  Going into last nights game against the Roosters, Johns had tallied 1689 career points and was poised to become only the sixth player in history to pass the 1700 point milestone. 

Joey refuses to keep lid on his emotions -  March 30 2003
Andrew Johns says he won't be toning down his on-field expressions despite starring in his own private soap opera on Friday night.  He has also revealed the weekly battle he endures to make sure his groin is in good enough shape to get him on the field. Johns was at his emotional and expressive best, clearly showing his frustration at the errors going on all around him as his team lost to Parramatta.  "I won't change because that is me and that is how I feel," he said. "I'm passionate about my football. What would people prefer, that I had a head on that said, 'I don't give a rat's [arse]' about what is happening? 
"I was frustrated at some things and I suppose that I just set standards for myself. Going into the game I didn't want Newcastle to be one from three and that's what happened. I've had people tell me that the cameras were focused on me a fair bit. Maybe I should blame Joe the cameraman." 
Nine's executive producer of rugby league, Steve Crawley, denied the coverage on Friday night was focused on Johns. But he said a special player cam had been used on Johns the previous week against the Roosters. "We didn't single Joey out for attention," Crawley said. "He singles himself out because of his passion and greatness. Everyone in the world could see why he was so frustrated. We isolated him last week and put the player cam on him against the Roosters and it was the most subdued he has been. There was no emotion. One week later it was the opposite but we didn't have him isolated."
Johns's brother Matthew defended his brother's actions and said teammates had no reason to be upset with Andrew for blowing his top.  "I don't think that it's bad for Andrew to behave the way he has at all," Matthew said. "He is not the kind of player who would ever ask anyone to do something that he hasn't or can't do. I think it would be a vastly different story if he was ordering people about and he was sitting back and doing nothing.  He's running around out there like a blue-arsed fly trying to do everything he can for the team."
Andrew also talked about the injury battle he was having to get on the field every week.  "I get about two hours' treatment a week, plus I have to go to Sydney once a week to see a person who is an expert in that area," he said. "It's something that I have to be very professional about and manage properly to make sure I can get out there."

My brother Joey - Matthew Johns,  Rugby League Week
My brother has been accused of being a dummy spitter and a bad sport.  Well, I can tell you he's always been a bad sport.  When we played trivial pursuit as kids, he'd always throw the board across the room and go berserk if he lost.  A few pieces of 'pie' even went out the window.  There were other times he lost his cool when things didn't go his way, but what that has bred is a win at any costs attitude.  The by product of a such an attitude is a bloke who is prepared to go out and train longer and harder than everyone else to make himself a better player. If "Joey" turns up to training and tries something which works first time, he'll use it in a game. He's got that much confidence, and thats what seperates him from all the rest. I reckon for normal people to have the guts to do something in a big game and believe they could pull it off, they'd have to go through a situation successfully at training over the course of a month.  Thats the way it has always been with Joey. He'll try things most blokes wouldn't even consider, and his demeanour is unbreakable, even if it doesn't work. There are a few coal trucks drivers up near Cessnock who can vouch for that.  As a kid of nine or 10, Joey developed this passing drill and dragged me in as his accomplice.  It involved him standing on one side of the road near our house in South Avenue at Cessnock with me on the other side of the bitumen.  We'd jog along and Joey would loop passes over the top of passing coal trucks or push flat balls at me in between gaps in the normal traffic.  And there was a lot of traffic.  And the odd ball would bounce off a coal truck and he'd get cranky.  Thats the sort of bloke he is.  We'd play games like that from the time we could walk until we left home at 18 or 19.
I remember bowling Joey with one of my wily medium pacers in a heated game of backyard cricket and giving him the big Dennis Lillee send off. Well, he smashed my brand new GM bat into bits on the edge of a 24 gallon drum we used for a wicket.  Woodchips went everywhere. Whatever he does, he has always been so strong willed.  He didn't go out in the backyard and do something once - he did it 120 times. If he doesn't get something down pat he'll keep going, because he gets dirty on himself.  I reckon Joey can still get better.  He has the ability to change the game, and he will keep pushing himself.  Its hard for blokes to do that because you are putting yourself out on a limb and doing things people haven't done before, but Joey has the confidence to say, "No ones done it before and I'm going to be the first."
One of the things that makes him a great player is his build - low and solid - which you see in so many great sportmen.  Look at Sachin Tendulkar in cricket and Maradona with soccer.  The short, stocky bloke with unbelievable balance.  Joey has always had great balance. During our childhood holidays at Fingal Bay he went from a country boy who couldn't surf to winning surf contests in no time at all.  Not bad for a bloke from Cessnock. 

Accurate Johns still trails kicking kings - 5 April 2003, Herald
Andrew Johs has kicked 11 goals from as many attempts to start the new season.  But his streak is well short of his club record 23 in a row set between rounds 20 and 25 in 2001.  Former bulldogs winger Daryl Halligan holds the all time Australian premiership record, having kicked 30 in a row in 1998.  Johns will captain the Knights for the 50th time tonight.  His first game as skipper was in 1998, but he took over the reins on a full time basis at the start of 2001 and went on to lead the Knights to a grand final win that year.  Under his captaincy, Newcastle have won 36 games, lost 12 and drawn one for a winning percentage of 73.5 percent. 
 

Leave Joey alone -  13 April 2003, SHM 
He is leading the prestigious Dally M Awards and is averaging more metres with the ball, more try-assists, more tackles and more kicks than last year. It is little wonder Andrew Johns' teammates cannot believe the Newcastle champion was being criticised in the lead-up to his outstanding performance against the Bulldogs on Friday night. "I wish I was playing as bad as him," Knights centre Mark Hughes said yesterday. "Week in and week out he's been a shining light for us - his form has not been down at all. Look what he did in Auckland when we played the Warriors. He played really, really well and helped get us home. There was never any question in our eyes as to how he was playing. He didn't answer any critics last night because he didn't have anything to answer. He had a great game again against the Bulldogs, as expected. But it wasn't to silence any critics. He doesn't have to do that." 
The only matches Johns hasn't polled Dally M points in this season were in losses to Sydney Roosters and Parramatta. Missing from those Newcastle sides were key forwards Matt Parsons and Ben Kennedy. While a mature and diplomatic Johns refuses to be drawn on the issue, team-mates and close associates of the champion halfback are seething that his form has been questioned in public. "During the Parramatta game, for example, Joey fell heavily on the green matting that runs near the sideline and grazed his leg badly, yet commentators said he was limping because he had a groin problem. They just don't know," another teammate said. Associates are also quick to point out that Johns' form has been good throughout the year not just after recent criticism as some are trying to allege. 
Johns has eight Dally M points from five games, putting him on track to notch a record fourth player-of-the-year award. 
"When you lose blokes like Parsons and Kennedy it definitely makes it harder because you lose a bit of go-forward," Hughes said. "Every week he plays at the top level and when you do that I suppose the expectations get a bit high on you. But we, the players, know exactly how well he plays for us each week and totally appreciate it." 
Johns' statistics in 2003 are not those of a struggling player. Against Melbourne last weekend he came up with four try-assists as the Knights racked up a 44-28 win. In a hard-fought encounter with the Bulldogs, he made 28 tackles, 20 kicks in general play and set up a try for Timana Tahu with a cut-out pass. He also came up with a decisive kick-chase late in the game that ended with Bulldogs fullback Luke Patten going into touch just metres from his own line. In round one against the Warriors, last season's grand finalists, Johns was instrumental in turning around a 16-0 deficit and helping Newcastle to a 36-26 win. "Whoever has been criticising him really need to have a good look at themselves," said former NSW hooker Ben Elias. He's the most valuable player in the game bar none and he showed it again against the Bulldogs. I think he's the best player I've ever seen and that's throwing in players like Raper and Fulton." 
Johns preferred not to talk about the fuss over his form. He is now focused on next Sunday's game against Cronulla at Toyota Park and looking to make amends for last year's 64-14 massacre at the same venue. 

Johns celebrates 10 years at the summit - 12 April 2003, The Herald
Newcastle Knights Captain Andrew Johns will pass a significant milestone next Thursday when he racks up 10 years as a first grade footballer.  The three times Dally M Medallist set a record in his first run on game on March 13, 1994, when he scored 23 points in Newcastles 43-12 win over South Sydney at the SFS.  That game is recognised as Johns debut, but the champion halfback actually first set foot on the field in first grade on April 17, 1993.  It was a wet and miserable night at Seagulls Stadium and, not surprisingly in those days, the Gold Coast thrashed the Knights 22-6.  Johns was one of Newcastle's four interchange players and injuries forced then coach David Waite to use the future NSW and Australian captain at fullback in the second half.  Current coach Michael Hagan captained the Knights from lock. Apart from Johns, fullback Robbie O'Davis is the only other survivor from that team still playing for Newcastle.  Johns went to play two more games off the bench in 1993. Including last nights game, Johns has played 195 first grade games for the Knights, behind tony Butterfield and Robbie O'Davis. In the build up to last nights game, he said a packed Energy australia stadium still provided all the motivation he needed.  "Its funny because I don't really get 'up' for games these days, Sometimes when I'm driving to the game I just think here we go, its on again. Then you pull up at the lights on the corner and you just see the crowd pouring in and it automatically picks you up."

Joeys milestone - Rugby League Week, April 16 2003
Newcastles captain Andrew Johns reckons he'll never forget his first grade debut - exactly ten years ago this week.  "Yeah, it was memorable because I played so ordinary.  I came off the bench against the Gold Coast and played at fullback.  It was blowing a gale and I kept getting caught out of position.  The Gold Coast boys were kicking it miles over my head...  I got dusted."  A decade on and its Johns who now dows the dusting.  Captain of his club, state and country the 28 year old knockabout from Cessnock has achieved every honour in the game.  He has won a Clive Churchill medal, two adidas Golden Book awards and a record three Dally M medals.  So popular is Johns with the fans, he's won the Provan Summons medal (as the peoples choice) every year since 1998.  Johns is now being touted as the next Rugby League Week Immortal. It was RLW who first informed Johns of his milestone last week.  And the man who has 17 Tests and 18 Origins with NSW to his credit was quite surprised about the latest honours.  "Really, it'll be 10 years this weekend?  I didn't know that.  when I think about my career, its flown.  Absolutely flown.  I know now that nothing is guaranteed in this game, so I just want to keep enjoying my footy for as long as I can."

A perfect ten - 10 things Johns loves about the game - Rugby League Week, April 16 2003
TWO MINUTE BELL - Theres a buzzer in our dressing shed at Energy Australia which goes off two minutes before we head onto the field.  I love it.  Thats when all the nervous energy, all the feeling in the room builds up to fever pitch.  You come in from the warm up and its really quiet.  No one says anything.  Then the two minute bell sounds and everyone springs to their feet.  Everyone is talking, running up and down on the spot...  you know the boys are ready to go.
MATES IN THE CROWD - I can always hear my mates, especially at home games.  I hear different people depending on where I am on the field.  There's this one old bloke who always sits on the hill at the northern end, and when I'm kicking for goal he yells outs "Bet you a schooner".  He does it every time.  "Hoyo (Matt Hoy) absolutely screams out - all the boys can hear him.
ROOMING WITH BEDSEY - When we stay in motels for away games, all the boys will go back to their room for a sleep around midday, but Danny Buderus and I always watch a movie.  The flick I remember most was the one we watched before the 2001 Grand Final.  It was about a female dancer - Bedsey and I only started watching p; it because she had a great body - who wanted to crack it on Broadway but she was deaf.  To make matters worse, her brother manager was taking money from her to feed his drug habit. This went on for hours...  no story, no ending, no nothing.
CRICKET - The other highlight of away matches is our cricket showdown on game day morning.  Teams are split into odds and evens, depending on the number you wear.  Kurt Gidley and Ben Kennedy are the stars. And Sean Rudder is a bit of a 'smoky' when he's awake - he usually fields wrapped in a doona.  I always get out controversially.
VB - There's nothing better than that first beer after a big win.  All the boys go back to Wests league Club after home games then off to the Burwood Hotel.  After that its usually the young single blokes - and a couple of older blokes - who drivve into town. 
PERSONALITIES - You've got young ratbags and th eolder, more settles blokes.  The loner and the life of the party.  There's all these different personalities, but once you're on the field you mix into one.  Every team has a pest, and Clint Newtown is head and shoulders above the rest at the Knights.  He's world class.  He's actually quiet an immature bloke.  He's also in denial about his drastic hair loss.  Its falling out everywhere.
DEFENDING YOUR LINE - There are plenty of times when things go against you in big games and the team digs in, but nothings better than successfully defending your line.  There are times when all the boys are screaming and you know they're not going to break you.  Its especially good if you can hold out for a couple of sets.  I remember playing Brisbane in 1998, we defended our line for three sets and 'Chief' put too massive shots on Shane Webcke.  Those sort of efforts life everyone.
JUNK FOOD - The only time I allow myself McDonals or KFC is after a big win.  That way I can have a feed and not feel too quilty.  I certainly don't dig in as much as I used to.  The best thing I ever did was move out of town five years ago to Merewether. There's no Macca's between the ground and my house, so I cant stop off and grab three Quarter Pounders before bed.
MATES - One of the best things about footy is the mateship.  Thats why away games are so good because all the boys are in together, travelling, playing cards, cricket, whatever.  We're a tight knit group here at Newcastle  most of the boys live within a couple of minutes of each other - and I think that reflects in our success on the field.
MAD MONDAY - Theres no real explanation needed for a celebration named after one day that usually goes for three. Our Mad Monday after the 2001 Grand Final was perhaps the best ever.  We had players from all the grades, mates, fathers, brothers... everyone.  And word travels fast up here.  We walk into a pub and its empty, but 20 minutes later the joint is packed.

Paul Harragon on Andrew Johns - I remember it well.  Opening round, 1994 - Souths at the SFS... and we were taking a punt on a rookie half, who apart from a few minutes off the bench against the Gold Coast the year before, was untried.  Everything was clicking - the little things were going our way.  It wasn't until halfway through the second half that I realised why - that 19 year old kid nicknamed 'Joey' was the difference.  We knew then that Andrew Johns who scored 23 points that day, was something special. But there's more to it than talent. He had football pedigree for starters. His dad, Gary, was captain coach of Cessnock, so he'd grown up in the inner sanctum of a rugby league dressing room. And he had all the other trimmings - he loved horse racing, betting, playing cards, playing cricket, going out with the boys and telling 'porky pies'.  Those things count.  They help make the complete footballer, the type who, when he's playing, doesn't want to be anywhere else - loves everything about the game. Its enthusiasm.  When he made his debut for NSW, we drove down to Sydney for the medical - me, Joey, Adam Muir and his brother Matthew.   We just couldn't shut him up, asking thousands of questions.  When you see him yahooing, it carries through in everything he does.  When Joey finally finishes playing, he'll be spat out of the system a well rounded person.  Despite the pressure he's under, it doesn't take that much to get that cheeky little smile out of him.  The same smile I saw that day in '94.

Among his many caps is one for salary - The Herald, 19 April 2003
Were it not for the salary cap, Andrew Johns would probably be the highest paid player in the National Rugby League, Newcastle Knights chairman Michael Hill said.  While he would not divulge what Johns contract is worth, he did say he was the Knights highest paid player and his was in the top 1 percent of salaries paid to players throughout the NRL.  Hill said in the absence of the salary cap, the bidding war between clubs would push Johns payment to way above its current level and would probably make him the highest paid player in the league.  He had no doubt Johns was the major drawcard for the Knights and for Rugby League generally, and that he was the Knights most valuable player. But as far as putting a dollar value on how much he is worth to the Knights generally, he said itw as difficult to estimate.  Knights chief executive ken Conway agreed, "Certainl in terms of dollars, its something we haven't done any research on. knights crowds have always been strong and Andrew Johns is a big attraction.  its obvious the crowd loves to see him play."
But Conway said there were alot of other factors which determined crowd numbers, although he said Johns had the biggest profile.  But in terms of putting a dollar value on his worth...  to equate that to the number of people coming to the games..  I just don't know."
Conway said Johns was an "Extremely valuable" player to the Knights, but so too were other players such as Ben Kennedy and Danny Buderus, although Johns 'certainly leads the way'.  He is the worlds best player.. but how you can put a figure on that?"
Johns manager Johns Fordham said his client was the number one drawcard in rugby league.  "Not just in Newcastle but to the world.  So I think he brings a level of magnetism to the gaem that few have been able to provide over the entire history of the game.  In the absence of research, the x factor I suppose with Johns, and his capactiy as an individual, would have to be extraordinarily high."  Fordham cited a study done on former Sydney Swans player Tony Locketts crowd drawing power.  'It was something like three out of every five patrons on this survey indicated that they were going to see the Swans play because of Tony Lockett.  Johns is in the same category and I say that even in the absence of any data. Mr Fordham said Johns was the highest profile Knight 'in a team of champions'.  Newcastle is a particulary strong and successful rugby league club right across the board.  Andrew Johns is not alone in generating that success, but he is a prime component in the overall success of the Knights."

Wet behind the ears - The Herald, 19 April 2003
The Gold Coast Seagulls of 1983 were one of the worst rugby league teams of the past 30 years.  Coached by the legendary Wally Lewis, boasting a team containing Dale Shearer and future internationals and Origin representatives Jason Hetherington, Wayne Bartrim and Kevin Campion, the Seagulls won one game all year.  On a wet and windy April Saturday night at Tweed Heads, the Seagulls humbled the Newcastle Knights 22 - 6. That Newcastle team contained the likes of Paul Harragon, Tony Butterfield, Mark Sargent, Marc Glanville, Robbie MacCormack, current coach Michael Hagan and a youthful Robbie O'Davis.  Apart from providing the now defunct Seagulls with their only win of the season, the game was memorable for another reason.  It was the first time Andrew Johns played in first grade - as a fullback - and he bent the truth to do it.
The cheeky coalminers son from Cessnock only 18 at the time, had played reserve grade earlier that evening and was one of several players on stand by for firsts.  O'Davis was injured in the first half and unable to return after the break,  leaving coach David Waite in the need of someone to fill in at fullback.  The 10th anniversary of that game passed on Thursday, but Johns remembers it like it was yesterday.  "Robbie O came off injured at half time so "Waitey" asked me if I had played fullback before and I said, "yeah, heaps of times, but I had never played it before in my life.  It was pissing down rain and they had a southerly buster up their backside. Every time they kicked I remember turning around and chasing it 20 to 30 meters and getting absolutely smashed when I was running it back.  I remember I got in the clear once and I passed the ball inside to one of the Gold Coast blokes.  The only time I split the line and got into space, I ended up passing it to the wrong team so it wasn't a real flattering game."
Johns recalls, "But I remember going back to training after that, I had a real spring in my step. After I got that taste I wanted to be up there again.  I got a couple more runs off the bench that year and really enjoyed it.  When I first started, I never thought I'd be in this situation but playing for ten years is something Im really proud of, especially playing for the one club all my career and being apart of what the club has achieved."
Andrews older brother Matthew made his run on debut at five eighth in the same game, forcing Waite to shift Hagan from his regular pivot position to lock.  Matthew had played five games off the bench the previous year and one other a fortnight earlier, but in keeping with the theme of the night, his first start was ruined by a knee injury. Johns came off the bench twice more in 1993 - a 28 - 4 win over Parramatta on May 30 and a 21 - 14 win over Balmain on June 27 - before playing his real first game in the opening round of the following season.  He scored 23 points in Newcastles win over Souths at the SFS to set a record which still stands for most points by a player on debut.  "I class the South Sydney game as my debut because I played halfback and I was picked to play there.  In those days, I think it was two fresh reserved and two more out of reggies (reserve grade), so there was usually four or five blokes standing by for first grade.  That game against the Gold Coast, I got picked to play 'reggies'.  I didn't expect to play first grade.  I played against Parramatta and Balmain later that year as well and didn't expect to play first grade then either."
Johns has since rewritten rugby leagues record books, redefining the job description of the position he plays and establishing himself as arguably the greatest foorballer to have played the game - in any position, of any era. The one time odd bodied rookie now captains his club, State and country and has a CV which includes two premierships, a Clive Churchill Medal, three Dally M medals, two Golden Boot trophies as the worlds best player, 18 Origin caps for NSW and 17 Test appearances for Australia.
Johns has become the man on the pedestal surrounded by adoring, often awe struck young team mates, but he has never forgotten the days when he was the rookie playing alongside his childhood heroes.  "Of all the blokes back then, David Boyd was the bloke who used to ride me the hardest.  We used to have our colour groups at training and "Boydy" was in my group.  When I did come on in first grade, he was always in my ear and barking at me if I wasn't doing what I was supposed to. When i came on against Balmain later on in 1993, I think 'Waitey' put me on in the last 10 minutes because we were leading by 20 odd but they scored a couple of quick tries.  One time I didn't chase from marker and they scored and I copped it for a minute or two from "Boydy".  He was absolutely into me, so for the rest of the game there was no way I was going to bludge at marker again."
Now that he is the elder statesman doing the barking and berating, Johns is scrutinised and criticised for an apparent lock of tact when communicating with team mates on the field.  Some take his shots more personally than others, but he does not apologies for pulling younger players into line.  "It keeps them on their game and makes sure their minds are on what they should be doing.  If blokes are doing things they're not supposed to, thats when they get a kick up the arse.  It happens to everyone.  Its nothing personal, its just the way it goes."
Now with 195 first grade games under his belt, Johns is zeroing in on another mileston.  butterfield 229 is the only other player in Knights history to reach a double ton and Johns and O'Davis 197 are jostling for the privilege of being the next member of the exclusive 200 club. Apart from the obvious stand outs - 1997 and 2001 grand final wins,  42 - 0 win over Canterbury in 1995 
Johns has never forgotten Newcastles 28 - 16 loss to the Bulldogs in the 1998 semi finals.  One of his finest individual performances came in the Knights last game of the season and Malcolm Reillys last game as coach.  It was the day Johns assumed ownership of a team that had unwittingly been his for almost five years.  "That was a big turning point in my career.  I couldn't have tried any more or tried any harder, so that game really stands out for me.  I think it changed my career.  We had that many injuries and I remember going into the game thinking 'righto', I've got to take a bit of responsibility and have a big game.  I had the attitude of f---it, I'm just going to bust my arse and try things.  If it come off, great, if not, so be it, and most of the things I tried that day came off."  Johns said, "I played with a lot less fear of failure that day.  I didn't worry if this was going to happen or that was going to happen.  I just went out there and put it all on the line.  From that game on, I just started to feel an ownership of the side, that I was a real important or integral part of the side and I suppose I started to take responsibility for the side."
The ownership take over was finalised at the end of 2000, when Johns replaced Butterfield - reluctantly at first - as captain of a Newcastle Team in which he was the only Johns brother.  "With Matthew leaving and me getting the captaincy, I suppose that feeling of ownership escalated in 2001, and we were good enough to go on and win the comp that year."
"Its been a great 10 years, just playing with all the blokes I've played with, what the clubs achieved and the way the club is, and I'm really proud of the fact that I've been a part of that.  The '92 side, the first team to make the semi's, the way they attacked changed things alot, then just before I came in, blokes like Hurtsy (Muir) and Matty (Johns) came through and our style changed again. The last 10 years have evolved from that but I'd like to thikn I've put my stamp on the club."

Johns backs new rep season -  April 30, 2003
NSW State of Origin and Test skipper Andrew Johns endorsed the new international calendar launched by the Australian Rugby League.  He said while it may be tough on some teams, the game's administrators had struck the right balance between representative and premiership commitments.  "I think they have it about right," he said. "It is going to be a big ask playing City-Country on the Friday and backing up (for Newcastle) against the Roosters away on the Sunday. Newcastle will probably have about half a dozen to ten players in the sides.  (But) I don't think any player would be complaining about playing in a representative match." 
The representative season begins on May 16 when City Origin plays Country Origin at Express Advocate Stadium in Gosford.  The year will take in two Tests against New Zealand and end with a three-Test Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain, including a Test against either the United States, Russia or France.  Looking ahead to the State of Origin, Johns said the Blues had painful memories of last year's series that need to be erased. The third Origin game last season ended in an 18-all draw, after the NSW and Queensland sides had split the first two games one apiece. 
"It was a hollow feeling, definitely," Johns said.  "Every time I see it (the end of Origin III last year) it still breaks my heart because we were so close.  "We don't need any extra motivation - we'll be ready for it." 
He also said the emotional return of State of Origin football to Suncorp Stadium shouldn't effect NSW. 
Johns will be a part of the Newcastle side that plays the first game back on the old Lang Park against Brisbane on June 1, only a week and a half before Origin I on June 11.  He said while it will be heavily publicised, all the hype will stop once the game starts. "There will be a lot said about Lang Park," he said. "But once you are out there on the field all that goes out the window and you just focus on the game."  The captain said despite injuries or suspensions to a number of key players in the Blues' 33-man preliminary squad, he was confident the selectors would pick the right team. NSW has always been lucky enough to have a big talent pool to pick from and I think we'll be OK," said Johns, who is suspended for two weeks but will be back in time to play for Country Origin.