Rabbitohs wingers revel in joint milestones

After hitting a new mark in his quest to become the Premiership's all-time leading try-scorer on Friday night, Alex Johnston was more interested in discussing the achievements of his rookie teammate on the opposite wing.

With tries in the 22nd and 48th minutes of South Sydney's 28-6 win over the Warriors, Johnston drew even with Steve Menzies in third place on the list and climbed to within 32 of Ken Irvine at the top.

While Johnston notched his 180th four-pointer on the left flank, over the right 18-year-old Tyrone Munro celebrated scoring his first one on debut, in a performance which left his mentor in awe.

"Played unbelievable for a young fella. What more do you want on a debut? Good win, scoring a try, try assist... I am super proud of him," said Johnston, who was roomed up with the rookie during the trip to Auckland. 

"He got told he was going to debut on our trip over, so the whole [week] he was nervous.

"He was asking me questions like ‘do you get nervous still?’. It was just cool to be a part of that with him and to try and comfort him and just be like ‘mate, don’t worry about it you’ll kill it.

"He did his collarbone at the start of the year, so he overcame a bit of adversity. He is here now and hopefully he keeps shining and there’s a lot more games to come."

Called into the team following the withdrawal of Isaiah Tass and Campbell Graham, Munro's debut had seemed a farfetched prospect at the start of this season when he was playing in the NSW SG Ball Cup U-19 competition. 

He quickly graduated to the club's Jersey Flegg (U-21) side before making his debut at reserve grade level last month. 

Having fast-tracked the Botany Rams junior with an eye to using him at NRL level at some point this year, Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou said his belief in Munro is such that he didn't think twice about throwing him out on a frigid Auckland night, which saw torrential rain hammer Go Media Stadium for almost the entire game.

"Not at all, because he’s handled everything that has been thrown at him," Demetriou said.

"It’s a difficult place to debut but also difficult conditions for a young winger, who is not the heaviest, to be coming out of the back of the field.

I had no doubt he would handle the physicality. He is not the biggest, but he is deceptively strong and doesn’t mind going after the collision.

Jason Demetriou

"He just puts his hand up. He was error free in that first 60-70 minutes and then off the back of that he got opportunities and ended up a scoring a try and set one up for [Blake] Taaffe as well.

"He is a kid with a big future. That’s something he will remember for a while."

Johnston meanwhile joked that drawing even with Graham as South Sydney's top try-scorer this year with his 14th four-pointer was just as important to him as it was to catch Menzies on the all-time list.

After winning their first game in almost a month, the Rabbitohs now have a home game against the Bulldogs before a Round 20 bye, and from there head into a difficult travel period which includes games at the Sunshine Coast, Tamworth, Perth and Cairns. 

"We wanted to bring some energy back [against the Warriors] and we did that. There was a lot of connection between the boys. I really loved that win," Johnston said. 

"We have got a good run home... if we can bring together some wins, play like we did [against the Warriors], we can definitely push for top four."