The opening weekend of the 1994 season saw a 19-year old Andrew Johns make his first grade starting debut for the Newcastle Knights alongside brother Matthew.
Facing a South Sydney side who had won the (preseason) Tooheys Challenge Cup just a week earlier, the Knights were underdogs in round one.
But Souths’ fullback Duncan McRae said he knew what was coming for his Bunnies that day.
“I’m the same age as Andrew so we’d been playing against one another since we were 15,” McRae told Big League
“We’d played in the NSW U19s together the year before and beat Queensland comprehensively. Joey set up just about every try and scored something like 30 points, so I knew he could play.
“It was the start of a legend’s career and unfortunately, we just happened to be on the other side of it.”
Johns scored two tries, kicked seven conversions and a field goal in his first starting match in the top grade, winning the Just Jeans man of the match award following the 43-14 victory.
“He came into a great situation at Newcastle with guys like Mark Sargent and Marc Glanville leading the way up front,” McRae recalled.
“Robbie McCormack was the hooker if I remember correctly. So Joey came into an experienced side and was brilliant from a very young age.
“He probably would have done the same thing 12 months earlier had Matthew Rodwell not burst onto the scene when he did.
“The fact Joey had to wait an extra year to break into first grade is probably the biggest surprise looking back on it now.”
Coached by club great Bob McCarthy, McRae said the Rabbitohs were taught a lesson that afternoon at the Sydney Football Stadium, but recovered to have a solid season.
“I was playing fullback so they were coming at me from every direction. I think it was the same game Tyran Smith put a massive shot on Matty Johns so that was probably the only highlight we had that day.
“We probably went in a little over confident and we ran into a hungry Knights team who went on and dominated for a lot of the next decade.
“Bob was a fantastic mentor and a great guy. We’re still good mates to this day but I don’t think there was anything he could have done to help us that day.”
McRae and Souths went on to finish ninth that season, one spot and one competition point ahead of Newcastle in 10th, but McRae said it was fairly obvious that something special was building up in Newcastle.
“It was a top five back then and we probably sat somewhere between fifth and seventh for most of the season and then fell away at the back end.
“You could see Newcastle were getting that balance of youth and experience right and they were always going to be set for the next decade with the players they had coming through.”
McRae, who turned 50 late last year, headed to the UK a year later to join the London Broncos then returned to play with the Bulldogs before switching codes to rugby union.
