Well, they got a full house of nearly 11,000 people, I am sure many of those came to Johns in action. However, I do think it was wrong to play in place of a genuine cricketer.
All I do know is that now Warne's retired, Andrew Johns is the undisputed number one sportsman in the country
Surely Ricky Ponting is now Australia's top sportsman? Johns is definetly the number 1 sports star in newcastle, perhaps even in NSW. But even at the peak of his powers he was never near to being Australia's number 1 sportsman, imo.
Surely Ricky Ponting is now Australia's top sportsman? Johns is definetly the number 1 sports star in newcastle, perhaps even in NSW. But even at the peak of his powers he was never near to being Australia's number 1 sportsman, imo.
I guess for 20/20 its about par for the course. He faced one ball. Im sure the Newcastle Knights would have insisted on there being a 'no bouncer' rule for Johns to prevent injury, which makes the whole thing even more fake and cringeworthy.
I'm talking skill level here boys, not popularity.
Johns is simply the best.
Raper, Langlands, Fulton, Gasnier, Lewis, Churchill - all greats of Rugby League. But for mine Johns trumps them all.
Some of the Mexicans may not realise how great his skill level is because they don't know any better. But you don't have to follow basketball religiously to know that Michael Jordan was a legend.
It's the same with Andrew Johns - there isn't enough smoke to blow up the man's posterior and still do him justice.
He reads the game so well, he's able to deceive his opponents and create oppurtunities that just aren't there.
Then he executes the play perfectly.
He's also the complete package. A superb goalkicker and stronger in defence than any half-back I've ever seen.
He just dominates the game. It is no coincidence that Newcastle struggles to win a game without him, yet are contenders for the premiership when he's in the side.
Johns is the greatest player the game has ever known in the dominant winter sport for half the country.
If you'd like to argue that Johns isn't as great as I say he is. That Raper or Churchill were better than him, then that's fine.
But don't argue that he's not the number one sportsman in the country just because he's a Rugby League player. It's just an ignorant argument.
In my time, I would say Wally was the greater player solely on the basis of his domination of SOO. Although he was past his best by the time he played week in week out top grade stuff with the Broncos.
They probably confused him with Les Johns, a former Australian Rugby League fullback who was also a very talented batsman in the Sydney first grade competition.
