Johns to captain Knights against Eels -  30 Jan, 2001
Andrew Johns gets his first chance to captain Newcastle when the Knights take on Parramatta this Saturday. Johns and Matthew Gidley come into the side which lost 30-22 to the Wests Tigers in Coffs Harbour on Saturday. "I thought the game in Coffs was a great hit out for a team that was missing about half a dozen from our starting side," Johns said. "Danny Buderus and Robbie O’Davis were outstanding, but I thought that young Josh (Perry) was the pick of the blokes up front." 

Season 2001 - Johns showed a new maturity in the first 11 rounds of this year's premiership, a new sense of the space and time of a football match. He became universally recognised as the game's best player, was described as one of the greatest halfbacks in history. Then he seriously injured his left knee in a game against the Dragons on  April 27, on the weekend that he was set to be named NSW halfback for the first State of Origin match. The 10 weeks on the sidelines have been a painful trial, firstly because of the knee itself and the resultant crutches, and then from watching the Knights lose their way, winning just two of the six matches he missed and dropping from the top of the ladder.
"Sometimes you don't know how much you have until it's taken away, and that was the case with the injury. The fire's really burning now, and I'm just dying to get back out there and really push, not just to get to the semis but to win the comp. "I'm sick of getting to the semis and being knocked out." After 2 months out injured, the world's best rugby league player ended Newcastle's four-match losing run by scoring 20 points and engineering 16 more. His side inflicted on premiers Brisbane their worst-ever defeat, eclipsing the 48-6 loss to Melbourne two years ago.  "It was probably a fairytale to come back and win like that," Johns said. 
Michael Hagan -  Newcastle halfback Andrew Johns is a better rugby league player than Queensland great Wally Lewis, according to former Maroon Michael Hagan.  "I think he's the best player I've seen," Hagan, now the Knights coach, summed up when asked about Johns. "Thinking back to (Graeme) Langlands and (Bob) Fulton, they were probably the first players of that sort of calibre that you come across that were immortal or in that category. "Wally Lewis, Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny I think were three in my era that were at their best, and Allan Langer. But I think in modern times, over a decade or so, he's (Johns) the best I've seen and probably will ever see from a coaching and playing point of view."
Asked if he rated 27-year-old Johns above Australian, Queensland and Brisbane five-eighth Lewis, Hagan replied: "Yes, on the basis of playing every week at NRL level.  "I have no hesitation in saying he's gone past him. Wally Lewis, from a State of Origin and Test level, is probably the best representative player of his time and very gifted.But I think from a week to week club point of view he played a couple of seasons with the Broncos at the back end of his career, he played club football in Brisbane that wasn't anywhere near the intensity that you are playing at this point."  Hagan said Johns, on the other hand, had played premiership level football for seven years and would continue to do so for another four years. "And all his performances are top shelf all the time," he said.

Joey steps up to his biggest challenge yet,  13 Feb 2001,  Newcastle Herald
The larrikin image that has endeared Andrew 'Joey' Johns to the Marathon Stadium faithful since 1989 will have to take a back seat this year as he assumes the captaincy of the Newcastle Knights. The player widely regarded as the best in the world will carry the hopes of the Knights on his shoulders every time he runs onto the ground. 'I've had some great leaders to look up to in the Chief (Paul Harragon) and Buttsy (Tony Butterfield), but I'll just carry on the way I've been going,' said Johns, who has pointed the Knights around the paddock since slotting into the first-grade No.7 jumper back in 1994. 'The only difference is that I'll toss the coin.' 
Johns is looking forward to casting aside the disappointment of last year's semi-final exit to the Sydney Roosters. He is in charge of a young and exciting backline studded with internationals Matthew Gidley and Adam MacDougall, and with pace and skill in Timana Tahu, Darren Albert, Mark Hughes and former Australian custodian Robbie O'Davis. 'I'd like to think that I can turn young blokes like Timana Tahu into an international player and help a lot of other young players,' Johns said. 'I don't really feel comfortable getting up and speaking in front of people, so Billy Peden as club captain will help out there a lot.  'But I can't run away from it all my life. I have to assume the responsibility.' 

23 May 2001 - The Knight's captain broke his own single game Knights scoring record with 29 points from  three tries, eight goals from as many attempts and a field goal. He also set up tries for Adam MacDougall and  Paul Marquet and kept the Warriors guessing with his kicking game and all-round control around the rucks.  Coming on the back of another man of the match performance against Melbourne the previous week.  Among his achievements against the Warriors, Johns: broke his own Knights single game scoring record of 24, which he set with two tries and eight goals in a 60-0 win over South Sydney on August 8, 1999;  registered the 11th highest single game scoring total of any player in premiership history; raced to the top of the 2001 NRL top pointscorers' list, with 80 points from seven games; scored his second hat-trick of tries, after a treble in a 46-12 win over the Roosters on June 30 last year; kicked eight goals from as many attempts to take his success rate for this season to 31 from 40 (77.5%)
Andrew Johns wants to retire from the game at the end of the 2004 season as the most capped Newcastle  Knights player in the history of the club. Johns will celebrate his 150th first grade game in round 3 of season  2001. Of the six players in front of him on the all-time list for the Knights, only fullback Robbie O'Davis  (156 games) is still playing, leaving Johns three more seasons to reach Tony Butterfield's record of 229  games in the red and blue. Johns is the early favourite to win his third Dally M Medal in four years, having streaked clear in voting for the game's official player of the year award. He is also the NRL's leading scorer after nine rounds with 100 points.

Joey out for 8 weeks -  Five words that broke my heart - by Andrew Johns 
 I don’t think I will ever forget those words. All Dr Peter McGeoch said was: "You've done your medial ligament."  I didn't need to hear the rest. I knew I was gone. It happened so simply. I took the ball down the short side and  looked infield to pass and I just got tackled around the legs. I don't even know who it was.  I felt this pop but it  didn't hurt. There was no real pain. I got up to run thinking it was okay, just a bit of a twinge. But then it felt really  wobbly, really strange. I've never had a knee problem. I've had my fair share of injuries but never a knee so I  didn't really know what to expect. But once I got into the dressing room, I knew I was in trouble.  I just love being  in camp around all the boys, just to train with them and play with them. It pushes your skills. It's just a great  environment and playing in the games is just great, so I'm shattered I'm going to miss it.
During these weeks,  the Knights lost to the Northern Eagles, Roosters, and were thumped by the Bulldogs and Parramatta. Coach Hagan said, "Put it this way, the intensity at training has gone up a level this week, on Johns return.  He sets very high standards and he expects the same from team mates.

League Week -  Johns said, "There is probably a bit of pressure there with the way the boys have been going.  Everyone just has to lift a little bit.  We're not expecting miracles.  I think most people would concede that during a season as long as this, every team is going to go through a form slump at some stage. 
 

"I'm just at a moment in my career where I can see the end, and I don't want to think back and have a lot of regrets about what I've done or what I haven't achieved.  "I thought, righto, I'm going to have a real go - I'm going to play halfback in rep football - so I busted my backside, training hard, made a heap of sacrifices.  Everything was good, then unfortunately I was just about to get the carrot and I got injured."

Johns return - For the record, Johns engineered, to varying degrees, a try by O'Davis, two by Albert, kicked for centre Mark Hughes's touchdown, scored his own in the 16th and 49th minutes, and booted six goals from eight attempts. Of the other two tries, MacDougall threw a wonderful unsighted reverse pass for five-eighth Sean Rudder to cross, and Albert claimed a doubtful touchdown in the right corner a few minutes from time.  Johns, meanwhile, fobbed off all the compliments. When his coach, Michael Hagan, went too far at the media conference, he asked him for a pay rise. Andrew Johns is the best player in the world, and that is best summed up when you see that he is still leading the Dally M Player of the Year voting.
"I'm not worried about people saying they haven't won or they need me back or anything," he said. "When you come back from any major injury, in the back of your mind you're alsways a bit worried about how it's going to go. A lot of people are talking about my fitness, but my fitness is going to be fine because I've trained really hard for the past six weeks. Confidence can be that fragile sometimes, but I've just got to get back to that confidence I had before I got injured, when every time I got the ball I thought I could break the line. It's just a matter of building that confidence back up again. That might come with a good tackle, a good pass or a good kick so hopefully it will only take a couple of minutes." 

Point scoring record against Canberra - 34 points -  30-7-01
"I wanted five," Johns said. "But I never got the chance." Maybe next time. And don't doubt there will be a next time, because this bloke isn't standing still. He believes he can get better and he's working on it. "I've wasted a few years," Johns said in what many would regard as an extraordinary comment, considering his standing in the game. Asked to expand on that, he said: "By not working as hard as I can. Young bloke, cash in pocket. But I look at things differently now and I'm working as hard as I can on my game. "The big thing I've worked on is every year I've tried to change the way I play a bit, to try to keep the opposition guessing. Otherwise, they work you out." Johns emptied the full bag of tricks. The short passes, long passes, quick passes, delayed passes. The bombs, grubbers, kicks inside off the outside of the boot. The step, the fend, the bullocking runs. The big tackles. 
Knights football manager Mark Sargent says that, one day, league fans will talk of having seen Johns play, just as veteran cricket fans talk about having seen Don Bradman bat. Yesterday should be one of the days they remember. The 34 points Johns scored against the Raiders was a club record. He held the mark before this season at 24 and has bettered it twice. His nine goals equalled the record he held and his four tries equalled the mark shared by teammates Darren Albert and Adam MacDougall. He has scored 205 points this season, bettering the record of 200 he set last season.  Canberra's coach Matthew Elliott said, "If he was in my team and we were heading for the finals, I'd keep him at my place, put him in cotton wool, feed him, make sure he got enough sleep, tie his shoelaces ... whatever it took to make sure he was there at the end," 

Knight in shinning armour feels the heat 
 Newcastle Knights captain Andrew Johns is feeling the pressure of the attention that comes with being the "world's best rugby league player". Like Ian Thorpe, Johns revealed he felt uncomfortable being compared to football greats like Wally Lewis and Graeme Langlands. "I know I may come across as a pretty confident sort of bloke, but I really do struggle to handle some of the comments that have come my way in recent times," he said. "It is very much an honour to be compared with some of the great players of the past, but I've got big enough shoes to fill just trying to follow in the footsteps of some of the Newcastle skippers that have gone before me. 

Joey Vs Matty
The once unthinkable scenario of Andrew Johns versus Matthew Johns will become reality next year after Matthew signed with the Sharks for two years. Apart from childhood games in their Cessnock backyard, Matthew and Andrew have never played against each other. Andrew was looking forward to their first meeting. "I haven't thought about it too much, but it will be very interesting, to say the least. I suppose I'll have to go easy on him, he'll probably have a point to prove when he plays us, but he'll probably be that fired up he'll just see a number, not a person. Being away probably helped him realise that playing for the Knights is not the be-all and end-all of all things. It doesn't matter where you go in rugby league, there's always good people and good fellas at every club, and I'm sure he'll be very successful at Cronulla."
 

Joey Johns is in his eighth season of first grade but this is the first year he has played without older brother Matthew alongside him at five-eighth. He was reluctant to take on the captaincy when it was offered by first year coach  Michael Hagan during the off season but he is clearly relishing the extra responsibility of leading the side.  Johns said. "Plus I know that I'm captain now. I'm probably not one to rant and rave before the game so I just try  to go out there and let my actions talk."

Joey maybe suspended for two games. 6 August 2001
Andrew Johns stood in the Newcastle dressing-room talking about how yesterday's game was "not a day to remember" for him.  In an ironic postscript to one of the best attacking games in recent memory, all the focus after the match at Shark Park was on two tackles that resulted in Johns and Knights fullback Robbie O'Davis being placed on report.  For his part, Johns - universally regarded as the game's leading player - admitted that frustration had led to hiis striking Dykes with a forearm 11 minutes before full-time. "A lot was billed between me and Preston, but I shouldn't be worrying about those sort of things," Johns said."He was braining them and I was not having a day to remember, and I just got frustrated. It's not my go and I shouldn't have done it."
As far as the Newcastle camp were concerned, referee Sean Hampstead should not have stopped the game 23 seconds later and recalled play to the other side of the field to penalise Johns.  By that time, three tackles had been made and the Knights - trailing 42-30 - were camped on the Sharks' tryline, with winger Justin Ryder having been cut down just short. If he had scored, video referee Graeme West would not have been able to go back more than one tackle to adjudicate on whether the try should be disallowed. Yet after whistling time-out, Hampstead could clearly be heard on the match audio asking: "What do you want to do?" He then called out Johns and told him he had landed on Dykes with a forearm, jolting the ball loose and leaving the Sharks five-eighth concussed in back play.  "I didn't really listen to [Hampstead] so I don't know what he said," Johns admitted. "He just lost control of the game."

Johns out for two -  8 August 01 
Andrew Johns has been found guilty of a grade three striking charge and suspended for two matches at the NRL judiciary. Johns attempted to have his charge downgraded to a grade one offence but was unsuccessful and will miss this weekend's clash with Wests Tigers and the following week's game against St George Illawarra. 

Johns beats pain barrier  -  Newcastle Morning Herald, 30/8/01
Andrew Johns battled a painful rib injury but still did enough to help Newcastle end a three-game losing streak with a 34-18 win over North Queensland last night.  Johns had missed the previous two games because of a two-match suspension but that break helped him treat rib cartilage damaged in his most recent start, against the Sharks.  The Newcastle and Australian halfback needed pain-killing injections before the game last night and showed signs of distress and discomfort at various stages, but refused to leave the field until the job was done.  "I think the needle wore off a little bit and he got a knock just after half-time, so in hindsight he probably should have got it topped up at half-time," Knights coach Michael Hagan said.  "He considered coming off to get it topped up but ... he was able to keep himself out of the firing line long enough for it to settle down."  Johns will keep playing with pain-killers as long as necessary but expects the injury to improve steadily each week.

2GB JOHN GIBBS's column in Big League
What would happen if Andrew Johns wore the opposing team's jumper at ANZ Stadium this Friday night? Well it almost happened.  Firstly, let me state that Andrew Johns is the most complete footballer I have seen in 15 years of commentating on this great game of ours. Secondly, as we contemplate this Friday night's clash of the round between Brisbane and Newcastle, I want you to imagine the following:
Newcastle WITHOUT Andrew Johns.- If Joey had become a Bronco, ask yourself these questions:  Would Newcastle still win their fair share of games? What effect would it have on their crowds and thus their finances? Would the title be regarded as a lay down misere for the Brisbane rather than all the talk being about them coming back to the field because they are struggling for a halfback combination?
My view is this: the Knights would be struggling to win a game, such has been the individual impact of Johns on all their games this season; and the Broncos culd not be stopped from winning their sixth title in 10 years. Sure, the Knights had a great win against a terrible Parramatta last Friday night in a complete team effort. It was the one game our of four where Johns did not stand out as their absolute maestro. But without Joey on the paddock, it could have been a different story still.  There¹s nothing Andrew Johns can¹t do. His desire to win is evident in everything he does on the paddock. He is the maestro, the conductor, the playmaker, the shot-caller, whatever you want to call it, that¹s what Joey does. He can create something out of nothing with the best of them  the grubber kick, the blind side play on the last tackle, the chip over the top S the list goes on. And it's not only what he does when he's got the ball, plenty of opposition forwards have been on the wrong end of a Joey bone-jarrer. He's arguably Newcastle¹s hardest hitter. It boils down to this, if a try needs to be scored, or stopped, invariably it¹s A. Johns who comes up with the goods. Oh yeah, there¹s that other handy attribute, he kicks goals.  Already the majority of Newcastle's competition points are directly attributable to Andrew Johns. Did you see the panic on the faces of his team-mates when he went down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury in the match at the Showground against the Doggies in round three?
Not only did he get back up to spark a recovery and an unlikely 28-all draw, but one of the big Dogs sensed Joey was a little bit doughy and ran straight at him. The Johns response was to pick him up and bury him, the ball-carrier spilt the pill and the Knights were back on the attack.That¹s another great strength: his resilience. He can play through the pain barrier. The bloke is a freak.
So to answer one question, without Johns the Knights would not be as competitive and this would have dire ramifications  not just on their results but on their crowds and their ability to survive financially. As hardy and as loyal as the Novacastrian throng is, without Johns at the helm that loyalty may be in some way tested  especially after seeing his brother Matthew depart in such a controversial way. If the crowd numbers drop it would have an effect on the spirit and performance of the players, as well as the Knights' coffers. The passion of the Knights' supporters has played a big part in the team¹s success.
I don¹t know if it would be good for the game and I know it would be an absolute nightmare for Newcastle.  That¹s the scenario that was pretty close to coming true before this season. Andrew seriously considered an offer from the Broncos and if he was ever to leave the Knights, that¹s where he would have gone. And that one isolated decision by just one player has probably had the biggest effect on the 2001 Telstra Premiership than any other event in the past six months.

Joey's got to carry that weight, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 March 2001
His brother's move and the captaincy weigh heavy on Newcastle's Andrew Johns. -  Steve Mascord.
Andrew Johns would rather this story not be written. It's a story about rugby league's biggest celebrity being separated from his brother, turning down the captaincy of the Newcastle Knights - before being talked back into it - and struggling with the expectations of just about everyone.  It's also about his tiring of fame, which is why Johns would prefer the whole thing be left alone. If only it were that easy.  Johns disappointed some during the 28-28 draw with the Bulldogs on Sunday by appearing to throw a tantrum in the general direction of his teammates.  He stood away from them in the in-goal after they conceded a try. He made his disappointment at their imperfections apparent to those with the worst seats at the Sydney Showground. Johns does this for the same reason he delights us by punching the air and leaping around when the Knights, NSW or Australia win. He has a personality almost as big as his talent. Acceptable behaviour for a footballing Peter Pan, perhaps. But for a captain? You could hear the tutt-tutting from miles away. Yesterday, predictably, the Knights defended him.
"I think he's actually coping with those sorts of situations pretty well, knowing how volatile he can be and what he may have done in the past," coach Michael Hagan said. "If you think back to when Lee Jackson was passing footballs at his ankles, he was going to great lengths to show his anger."Club captain Bill Peden said: "That's part of Joey's make-up."  But when contacted at home last night, Johns stuck up his hand.  "I know Malcolm [Reilly] used to give it to me about it, and even Warren [Ryan]," he said.  "I could just see us throwing the game away. I shouldn't do it because now that the younger blokes look at me as a leader, they probably follow my example.  "I'll probably tone it down a bit."
But there was something else on Sunday. Andrew and Matthew Johns used to make proclamations after games like sermons from the mount. They spoke to reporters as if they were direct conduits to their rank and file on the hill at Marathon Stadium.  On Sunday, "Joey" just mumbled something about being frustrated, about being sick of reading his name in the paper and left. Again, not what you'd expect of a captain. This year, Johns has to be a worker, he has to be an attacker and - with brother Matthew packed off to Wigan - he has to be twice the organiser. Now they wanted him to be leader and spokesman as well.  "That was the sticking point, why I didn't want to do it - the off-field responsibilities," he said. "Last year when Hages said to me [be captain], I said I didn't want to do it ... because, especially up in Newcastle, it's such a fanatical rugby league town that the captain is asked about everything, really.  "I know I'll never be like Chief [Paul Harragon]. Chief was just so good and even Buttsy [Tony Butterfield] is a really good communicator. In the end, I just want to be my own person."
Johns promises to be a better captain, be more patient with his teammates; he doesn't know what he's going to do about everyone else.  Once he grinned his way through autograph sessions and gave the most thoughtful answers in rugby league. Now his deliberations go like this: Are you getting sick of your profile? 'Yeah, maybe. As you get older, things change. When you're younger, when you get a bit of notoriety, it can be a bit of a thrill, you know?   "I'm getting older and other things get more important. My family is probably the most important thing to me at the moment. I suppose, in a way, I'm just slowing down. I've just had a little bit too much of it. 

Super 7 is our Don Bradman; Sargent gives Joey ultimate accolade - Jul 30, 2001.
FORMER Knights captain Mark Sargent compared Andrew Johns to Don Bradman last night after Johns again rewrote the record books in Newcastle's 54-26 win over Canberra at Marathon Stadium. Johns scored 34 points from four tries and nine goals from as many attempts to break his own single-game scoring record of 29 points, which he set against the Warriors at Marathon on March 31 this year. It was the highest individual haul by any NRL player this season and the equal-sixth highest tally by any player in the game's 94-year history. `The way Joey's playing, it's like the old blokes now who say they saw Bradman bat,' said Sargent, who is now the Knights' football manager. `In the future it will be blokes saying they saw Andrew Johns play footy. That's my estimation of how good he is.'  Despite missing six games with a knee injury and there still being five games and the semi-finals to go, Johns took his season points tally to 205 yesterday.
He passed the club record of 200 he set last year. On another unbelievable day at the office, Johns: * equalled Darren Albert and Adam MacDougall's club record for most tries in one game; * equalled his own record for most goals in one game; and * leapfrogged four players, including all-time highest pointscorer Jason Taylor, to be third among NRL leading scorers this year behind Ben Walker (231) and Hazem El Masri (214). On points alone, Johns `beat' the Raiders 34-26. Without his input, Canberra `won' 26-20. Canberra coach Matthew Elliott was as much in awe of Johns' achievements as the 9356 fans who braved freezing conditions at a wind-lashed, rain-soaked Marathon Stadium. `There was a big part of me today where it was just a pleasure to watch him,' Elliott said.
`I always have to watch Newcastle videos twice because when I watch the first time I just watch him all the time. It was a real weird day. It was one of those days as a coach where you're very disappointed in the way some things panned out for your team. But if you're a rugby league fan, you can't help but admire what the bloke wearing No.7 on his back is able to do. His awareness on the back of a team that can dominate a little bit is pretty special.'
Even the humble Johns was impressed, but he was not looking forward to another onslaught of adulation and descriptions as the game's best-ever player. `It's a good performance to score 34, I suppose. I think earlier on, like last week, I was trying to do things too early instead of letting the side go forward and build the game,' Johns said. `I haven't really thought too much about it, but it would definitely be up there individual-wise. I don't know how to handle that sort of thing when people say that about me. It's pretty embarrassing.'
Knights coach Michael Hagan said Johns had an unusually `out-of-sorts' week at training. `But he turned that around today, didn't he,' Hagan said.

Kicking Lesson's
Andrew Johns has been getting kicking lessons from Daryl Halligan in an attempt to increase his goal kicking accuracy.  Johns remains confident of increasing his success rate to 80% or thereabouts by the end of the season.  He stated that the ones from 10 meters out to the side line,  if i'm kicking at 50 to 60 % there i'll be happy.  From 10 meters in to the posts, I should be kicking up to 90% from there.  "Last year (season 2000) I thought I was falling away a little bit and not driving through the ball,  so Daryl's going to assess a few things in the next couple of weeks and we'll go from there. 

30/08/2001  -  Since his return from injury, Andrew Johns's kicked 23 consecutive goals.  His streak of consecutive goals ended when after kicking his first four, mostly from wide angles, he pulled his fifth attempt wide of the posts from the touchline.
 

I don't actually have many secrets on goal kicking to be honest. For a right footed kicker the most important thing is actually your left foot. You've got to make sure you're well balanced and that your footing is okay. Then it's just a matter of kicking right through the ball as hard as you can!

Joey not aping around with Banana kick - 28 July 2001 - Newcastle morning herald.
Few people saw it but those who did will never forget it.  Andrew Johns converted Adam MacDougalls last minute try against the Warriors at Ericcson Stadium last Sunday from the junction of the sideline and the 10m line - one his wrong side.  Using the left to right slice, Johns piloted the ball between the posts to stretch the final margin to seven points.  Most of the 8000 strong crowd and television cameras missed the kick, which came after the final siren and had no reasl bearing except for margin punters.  It was something special but paled in comparison with the stunt he pulled at training 24 hrs earlier.  Kicking from the same side, Johns further reduced the angle by placing the ball on the sideline just 2 meters out from the goal line and booted it between the big white sticks.

Big Deal? - Mucking around after training at Marathon Stadium, Joey regularly nails the same 'banana' kick from the spot where the cornerpost unually stands.  Not impressed yet? - Once challeged by a former team mate that it was physically impossible to make the kick from behind the goal line, he placed the ball 1 meter behind the goal line, and - you guessed it - kicked the goal. 

Graham Murray's (Ex Sydney City coach) undoctored guide to ANDREW JOHNS 
Right-foot kicker. Has 10 different styles, or tricks, of kicks and he is likely to use all of them come Sunday night. Gets the ball wide of the ruck at first receiver and will make the A and B defenders, the first two defenders, very nervous when he takes the ball straight at them. 

Johns beats pain barrier 26/08/2001
Andrew Johns battled a painful rib injury but still did enough to help Newcastle end a three-game losing streak with a 34-18 win over North Queensland last night.Johns had missed the previous two games because of a two-match suspension but that break helped him treat rib cartilage damaged in his most recent start, against the Sharks.The Newcastle and Australian halfback needed pain-killing injections before the game last night and showed signs of distress and discomfort at various stages, but refused to leave the field until the job was done."I think the needle wore off a little bit and he got a knock just after half-time, so in hindsight he probably should have got it topped up at half-time," Knights coach Michael Hagan said.  "He considered coming off to get it topped up but ... he was able to keep himself out of the firing line long enough for it to settle down."  Johns will keep playing with pain-killers as long as necessary but expects the injury to improve steadily each week.

Thoughts of a Champion Big League 2001 Knights
On coping with the added pressure without Matthew Johns. "Its been a good challenge for me, in the past I have just played visually and Matthew has run the side. He'd call where we're going and call the patterns and I'd just sit back, watch and count the numbers, and If i saw something I'd go. This year is different. With me combining with Sean Rudder, I had to call everything to start with and also look for opportunities as well. There has been a lot more on my plate but I have enjoyed it. "Ruddsy, is starting to feel more comfortable playing there and is calling things off his own bat. I knew it would be a tough year with a lot more pressure on. In the last trial I played against Parramatta, I was a bit underdone. Coach Hagan said, You're about a yard of the pace. No one had said that to me before I suppose. I thought about it and he was right. I was seeing opportunities but didn't have the legs to get there. So for the next three weeks I really tore into the training and two or three weeks into the comp I really felt my fitness was better. When I saw the opportunities I was on the mark to take advantage of it whereas before I mgiht be just a meter away and think, "Oh well, next play." 
On demands on elite players -  I think we are playing too much football. There's two trial games, 26 premiership games, three origin matches, a one off test, the finals, and then the Kangaroo tour. That's upwards of 30 games a year for the elite players. At best you have 10 - 12 years, but if your playing 30 games a year your body is just not going to let you keep going. but most of all it is your mind. it won't let you stay motivated. 
How do you handle, 'Worlds best player" -  I try not to think about it much. I really don't need a handle like that. I probably don't handle the profile like blokes like Laurie Daley did, all the wraps and that sort of thing. If i think about it too much, I go a bit cuckoo. When I was younger and people recognised me in the street and said, "Well done", it was a bit of fun, but now I don't handle it that well. I don't know how to respond to it, I get embarassed by it. I don't know what to say to people. People might see me and think, you must be the most confident bloke in the world. But put me in a room where I don't know anyone and I'm terrified. I think i'm getting better at it and Hages is helping me handle situations like that but I'd rather just play football and let that be it. But i can't run away from responsibility all my life, I suppose. Sometimes I have to stand up and face that these things come with being a high profile footballer. I now realise that responsibility that go with the position I've go myself into and I think I've become better at it, but it becomes too much sometimes. But you have to becareful. I've done things int he past I"m not proud of but if you grabbed 100 22 year olds, 99 would have done things there not proud of. I suppose I have grown up in the spotlight and everything I do is judged, but its cool. you just have to learn from it and be careful and know when is the right time to have a good time.
A piece of Andrew Johns -  I train hard with the side and do alot extra myself so when I get time to myself i want to spend it with my family or go surfing or hang with my mates. with Newcastle being so parochial and the team being so popular and people wanting so much information on us, your constantly asked to go to functions, and this sort of thing becomes demanding and takes the edge off you too. thats why I think they made Billy Pedan club captain to take the media and stuffa way. And I don't like to be in the media all the time. I don't want people to think, "Oh here he is again in the paper." Generally you get asked the same questions and just start repeating yourself. I don't want to be over exposed. i don't want a situation where people pick up the paper and think. Here's andrew Johns again, and think there nothing of substance to what I might be saying." In the past two years at least i've become more conscious of how people portray me. I wish I had done it a long time ago. it is difficult. Everywhere I go people look and point and I see them talking and sometimes I can't understand why. And then I look from the outside looking in and I realise most of the time its only good that people enjoy seeing you and talking about football. People see me with my mates, and i do like to have a good time, but when i'm with people i'm really quiet, and people can mistake that for arrogance or that i'm up myself. Its a very fine line. 
Winning our first comp in 1997 was something special and it will be the highlight of my career. But to win a combined competition and to be captain of my home side would be soemthing really special. There is no reason we can't win it. When Gorden Tallis got injured, thats when i thought were a big chance, and I think a few sides sensed that. 
Last year (2000) against the Roosters -  That game still hurts. I've never watched it on tele, I don't want to watch it, I suppose there was just so much at stake. buttsy was leaving, he'd been good to me over the years, I used to room with him when i was younger. Then matty was leaving and David Fairleigh had never played in a grand final and, the way he played up here and helped our side, he really deserved one. We had that game won. For the life of me I dont know what happened. but before I knew it had slipped away and there was nothing I could do about it individually or the side could do about it. If we got there, I think we may have knocked the Bronco's off. What did it teach you? I don't know. I just try to get it out of my mind. Because it just tortues me to think about it, it really hurts because... the first half we tried so hard and were in a position to win it. I remember the first set after half time and we went 100 meters and i thought, "We've got 'em, we've broken their back." But especially against a class side, the games never over, not the big games.

Injured Johns says he won't need a jab to do the job - by Steve Mascord and Brett Keeble ;
Newcastle captain Andrew Johns has a groin injury to go with his troublesome ribs going into tonight's clash with Sydney. Johns sat out part of the Knights' training session at Marathon Stadium last night but was confident of the problem not affecting his performance in the second qualifying final. "I'll be fine," the halfback said. "I felt a bit of a twinge playing tennis this week and I'm just looking after it."  Johns was confident of not needing an injection in his rib cartilage injury tonight but coach Michael Hagan countered: "I'm not sure it's got to that stage. "He would probably like to play without a needle if he can but if it isn't going to do any harm, then I can't see any reason not to give him one as insurance."
Newcastle have lost to Sydney in two of the past three finals series but Hagan has adopted an easygoing approach, confident his side will not be eliminated if it loses. "It's like the first game of an Origin series," he said. "You want to play well, you want to win and get things off to a good start. "We've got some players who benefited from playing in the finals last year, and then there are others who need to get used to playing football at this level. "Timana Tahu is young and has some rough edges which we can iron out. Joey [Johns] can maybe get a bit impatient. These are the things we can work on. "If you look at the penalty counts this year, we are right down near the bottom. We've been working on that this year, not blowing up."

Knights 40 Roosters 6 -  9 Sept, 2001
Unable to regain his feet after a blow to the head, Newcastle icon Andrew Johns last night picked himself up and wreaked revenge on the Sydney Roosters, effectively ending their 2001 season.  The Knights captain went into last night's second qualifying final at Marathon Stadium with groin and knee injuries but after four minutes was feeling no pain when his head smashed into teammate Bill Peden's shoulder while the pair was trying to tackle the Roosters' Luke Phillips.  Johns staggered around, stumbling twice, before taking his place in the defensive line and perhaps making it easier for Sydney Roosters to score their only try seconds later.
He signalled he was back by landing a booming sideline conversion when centre Matthew Gidley crossed in the 16th minute - and went on to score 18 points from a remarkable solo try and seven goals in his side's crushing 40-6 victory.  Last year the Roosters came back from 16-2 down to eliminate the Knights from the premiership race, but last night the Sydney side was down for the count long before full-time  "I don't remember too much - it's all a bit of a blur," the 28-year-old Australian Test half said. "I just felt 'unco', a bit lethargic.  "I just put the dinner suit on [stayed out of trouble] for 10 minutes and I came good.
"We know we're a big chance and this is just a step on the way. I suppose on grand final day, if they ask who won on the first weekend of the semis, no-one will know. No-one's getting carried away."  Johns's try was memorable even for him; he took the ball 15m out in the 28th minute and stepped past Simon Bonetti, Luke Phillips, Michael Crocker and Peter Cusack in a bewildering run.  Asked if he could remember the try, Johns quipped: "Yeah, it was a 60m run, wasn't it?"
Knights coach Michael Hagan said his initial thoughts when he saw Johns stumbling around were "stop the game so he can have a spell". "It typifies his toughness and courage that he didn't even have to come off for a breather," Hagan said. "He didn't know much about what he did but we'll tell him he played all right.  "We probably take him for granted still. In the context of him being knocked out early ... his kicking, his kicking of goals, the try late-on for BK [Ben Kennedy] were copybook."His awareness in all those things was unbelievable."  Sydney Roosters boss Graham Murray deadpanned: "I wish they'd have carried him off."

Joey approaching Cleary's record mark, Newcastle Herald, 22 Sept 2001 
Andrew Johns is on target to break Ivan Cleary's all time record for most points in a season. John's 18 point haul against the Roosters two weeks ago took his tally to 263 for the year - 21 behind the mark Cleary set for the Sydney Roosters in 1998. Cleary took 27 games to reach that mark, Johns has managed it from just 19, Averaging 14 points a game. Johns has already broken the all time premiership record for most points by a halfback. Johns has scored 14 tries this year - 11 at Marathon. 

Meet Mr popularity - The Sun Herald, 23 Sept 2001 
The Sun herald Peoples Choice Award went one was as soon as it opened and never changed direction. Despite the presence of so many other great players, newcastles Andrew Johns was an overwhelming winner, Johns polled more votes than the second, third, fourth and fifth placegetters together. 

Hard Feelings -  If Andrew Johns unleashes more than the occasional fist pump in the grand final today, it will be for the Eels coach Brian Smith. Despite denials, there is feeling between the pair and there is no doubt Smith will get extra joy if he can mastermind a victory over a team containing Johns. Smith made some harmless comments about Johns after a trial match between Parramatta and the Knights at the starts of the year. Smith didn't refer to Johns by name, instead calling him 'the halfback'. Smith was critical of Johns fist pumping, given the status of the game. We have it on good authority that johns was going to give Smith a spray with his newspaper column but after we wrote about it he chose to issue a denial.