Alex Johnston may have smashed Ken Irvine's long-standing tries record this year, but the South Sydney winger doesn't want any awards named after him - yet.
Johnston crossed for his 213th try in March, breaking Irvine's career try-scoring mark (212) which had stood since 1973.
There is already a statue of him outside the Rabbitohs' high-performance centre in Maroubra, but Johnston doesn't want to contemplate anything more at the moment, even though he currently sits on 240 tries.
Penrith winger Tom Jenkins and Johnston ended the 2026 club season level on 30 tries with both clubs in the finals - Souths playing Newcastle in Friday's elimination final and Penrith up against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday in the second qualifying final.
Earlier this week Jenkins told media he thought the NRL's award for the top try-scorer each season should be renamed the Irvine-Johnston Medal.
"Maybe not while I'm still playing," Johnston said, when asked for his reaction.
"Maybe it's something that when it's all said and done it would be nice to leave a legacy like that."
The 31-year-old still has at least two more seasons left in him, becoming the the first Papua New Guinean player to sign with the incoming Chiefs franchise for 2028.
Since 1908 there have been 12 occasions where two players have shared the top try-scorer award and three times where three players have ended the year on top.
Johnston has won the Ken Irvine Medal for most tries in a season three times already - 2020, 2021 and 2022 - and now a fourth time sharing with Jenkins.
"It's funny because I didn't really want it to be a race. I just wanted to do my job of scoring tries, I was happy with that," Johnston said of his duel with Jenkins.
"He had such a good start to the year but lucky enough I was able to keep racking up the four-pointers and get closer and closer to him by the end of the season.
"I really like 'Milky' as a player - he's got some big years ahead of him as he's got all the attributes you need to score good tries."
It did come down to the wire. Heading into the final round 27 of the club season, Johnston was just in front 29 to 28.
He added another in Souths' 50-20 win over the Roosters on Friday and then two days later Jenkins scored twice in the 38-10 win over Wests Tigers.
Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards also scored but could have easily passed the ball to Jenkins to give his teammate a hat-trick and the outright season lead of 31.
"I had flashbacks of when Corey Allan gave me the pass so it could have been a full-circle moment for me," Johnston said.
In the final NRL club game of 2020 against the Roosters, Allan was in the clear but passed the ball to Johnston over the line so his teammate could move ahead of Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt for most NRL tries in a season.
It is the third time Johnston has landed 30 in a season and it's been a good omen for South Sydney travelling deep into the finals - in 2021 the Rabbitohs made the grand final but lost to Penrith, and in 2022 they made the semi-finals losing to Cronulla.
Australian Associated Press
