A star is born The National, Tuesday May 13th, 2014 BLOCKBUSTING wing Alexander Johnston is the latest Papua New Guinea player to break into the NRL. Johnston, 18, will be eligible for the Kumuls, if he chooses to, because his mother, Bernadette Brown, is from West Sepik. Johnston, as he commonly known, Johnston plays for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He quickly showed his class, scoring a try against the Brisbane Broncos in his debut match on April 25. Johnston is 185-centimetres tall, 90-kilogrammes and has the distinction of displacing Blues Origin winger and Rabbitohs leading all-time try-scorer, Nathan Merritt. Johnston said he was inspired by Kumul and Gold Coast Titans winger, David Mead. They are good friends and Johnston hopes to represent Papua New Guinea. Although he may be new to the NRL, Johnston is not new to sports, with members of his family connected to sports in PNG and Australia. Johnston’s mother is a cousin of Dr Bernie Amof, a sports physician to the PNG Olympic Committee and chief medical officer to 2015 Pacific Games. Johnston’s grandmother, Mary Brown is Amof’s aunt and his grandfather, Francis Brown, is from Towoomba, Queensland. Johnston has three siblings. His maternal aunt, Seles Brown, is married to Anthony Mundine’s (former St. George Illawarra NRL player-turned professional boxer) cousin, Trevor Close. Amof, who has represented the country in athletics, is proud of Johnston’s achievement and has been encouraging Seles and Trevor’s five children to work hard and follow in the footsteps of their family members. “I hope that they will one day make a breakthrough into some high profile sport like AJ and they in turn will inspire other young Papua New Guineans,” Amof said. Johnson was last in the country two-and-a-half years ago with the Young Achievers Under-16s of New South Wales that played the Junior Kumuls in the curtainraiser match to the Prime Ministers’ XIII challenge in Lae in September, 2011. He has since broken into the NRL with the Redfern-based Rabbitohs.
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 02:56:32 +0000
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