Rabbitohs’ try machine Alex Johnston ruled out of Panthers prelim

The South Sydney Rabbitohs were already up against it taking on the all-conquering Penrith Panthers but they’ve now lost one of their big weapons.

Alex Johnston couldn’t beat the clock. Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images

The South Sydney Rabbitohs have lost try-scoring machine Alex Johnston for the preliminary final against the Penrith Panthers on Saturday night.

Johnston left the field against the Cronulla Sharks with what was believed to be a bad cork but was later revealed to be a hip flexor injury.

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Johnston is the equal fifth try scorer of all-time, having tallied 166 four-pointers in his career to sit alongside Sharks legend Andrew Ettinghausen.

At the age of 27, Johnston is considered a near certainty if he can maintain his try scoring form — having become the first player in history to have back-to-back 30 try seasons this year — of tackling Ken Irvine’s all-time record of 212 career tries.

On Thursday, coach Jason Demetriou said Johnston was 60/40 in hope of playing.

“He’s doing a bit of work today with a physio and then he’ll have a run tomorrow morning,” he told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

“By tomorrow morning we’re hoping he’d be able to get through the training session and be OK to play.

But he has ultimately been ruled out of the match and will be replaced by journeyman Richard Kennar in the starting side.

Brutal news for Alex Johnston. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Demetriou was asked about Johnston during a media opportunity and confirmed the news.

“Yeah he’s out, he was never really going to be a chance to play but we gave him every opportunity,” he said. “We’ll get the job done and he'll be back next week.”

Kennar has played just one game for Souths so far and scored a hat-trick against the Knights in round 17 and Demetriou said he brought more physicality.

“He's been awesome for us throughout the year, really fits into our culture. The boys love him here,” Demetriou said of Kennar.

“You could tell when I told the boys he was playing how excited they were. He won't let us down.”

The Souths coach said Johnston was able to run but not without pain and the side “couldn’t afford a winger coming off the field”.

Johnston is not the only player unable to beat injury however as the Eels’ centre Tom Opacic was ruled out of his side’s match against the North Queensland Cowboys on Friday night.

He will be replaced by Bailey Simonssen.