South Sydney Rabbitohs

Johnston now has 21 tries for the season and 187 for his career, just 25 behind the game's all-time leading tryscorer Ken Irvine on 212.

The day got off to a bad start for Souths when Jed Cartwright hurt his back in the warm-up and was a late scratching but they recovered quickly to grab first points when Johnston finished off some slick passing from Cameron Murray, Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell.

When Tyrell Sloan put a line dropout out on the full in the 18th minute the Rabbitohs took the chance to make the lead 8-0 with a Mitchell penalty goal.

After a disappointing loss to the Broncos last week, South Sydney bounced back in style at Scully Park, with Johnston's 12th career hat-trick cementing the lead which put the Rabbitohs back in the top eight.

The Wests Tigers were gallant in their defeat, with a second-half surge bringing them within two-points of the Rabbitohs' lead but the Round 22 defeat was costly for the home side with Shawn Blore (head knock) and Dane Laurie (knee) failing to finish the match.

Now sitting four points behind the 16th-placed Bulldogs it seems the wooden spoon is on its way to Concord for the second successive year unless Wests Tigers can spring some major upsets in the run home.

Tim Sheens' men face three of the big guns in the next three weeks with games against the Raiders and Warriors to follow Friday's clash against Souths, who now sit outside the eight after their loss to the Broncos.

The New Zealand-based side made light work of the Dragons in Round 17, running in nine tries in a 48-16 victory which lifted them to fifth on the Telstra Premiership ladder. 

On Friday night they'll be boosted by a capacity crowd at Go Media Stadium in Auckland, with the chance to win four in a row for the first time since the 2018 season. 

Their opponents meanwhile are reeling after a heavy loss to the Cowboys last Sunday which followed defeat at the hands of the bottom-placed Dragons in Round 15. 

The Rabbitohs have now won six on the trot, the best streak by any team in 2023, and move to the top of the NRL ladder courtesy of a superior points differential to the Broncos.

On the back of a six-again call Latrell Mitchell earned a repeat set with a neat grubber and the Rabbitohs threatened to open the scoring but Tommy Talau flew high to defuse a bomb and the Tigers kept their line intact.

Talau then aimed up in defence with a big hit on Michael Chee Kam to force an error but the Tigers lost their way in attack and failed to capitalise.

The very same stadium he made his debut nine years ago.

The PNG International scored two tries in the 28 – 12 points win over Melbourne Storm on his milestone match.

Johnston made his debut in 2014, the year Rabbitohs went on to win the premiership. He debuted against Brisbane Broncos in Round Eight at Suncorp Stadium where he scored a try and helped his side to 28 - 26 victory over the home side.

The mercurial duo both laid on tries with grubber kicks as the Rabbitohs avenged a Round 5 loss to Melbourne and climbed to second on the ladder in the process.

After Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston was dragged down just short of the line in the sixth minute, Mitchell jumped into dummy half and laid on a try for Walker with a brilliant grubber kick. The star fullback converted for a 6-0 lead.

Melbourne were the last team to beat South Sydney back in Round 5, and since then Jason Demetriou's side have shown themselves to be arguably the competition's form team with consecutive wins over the Bulldogs, Dolphins, Panthers and Broncos. 

With Campbell Graham scoring tries for fun and Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell firing, the Rabbitohs are a scary prospect with ball in hand, while in defence they have given up more than 18 points to an opponent just once all year. 

Rabbitohs centre Campbell Graham continues to give himself every chance of making his Origin debut this year with a first half double setting up a 12-6 lead for the visitors after 40 minutes. 

He then crossed for a third try as the Rabbitohs stretched their lead to 16 after 50 minutes with Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker finding the spark required as the game hung in the balance in the middle of the contest.

It is believed the Rabbitohs are closing in on a  deal with Jack for $900,000 per season for four years, which is less than the money he was offered by the Raiders and other rival clubs.

Despite the Raiders wanting to retain him at the Club and having tabled him 1.4 million Australian Dollars per season for another four years, the silky five-eight decided to change club on the less money.

The reason behind this move is that he wants to win a premiership before he lashes off his boot.