‘Don’t think ref was game to take it off him’: Wayne’s hilarious take on blunder in AJ record chase

Wayne Bennett was at his brilliant best in a cheeky press conference when discussing Alex Johnston’s looming record and his side’s improvement after their 40-0 win over the Dragons.

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Johnston moved to within three tries of breaking Ken Irvine’s unbreakable record of 212, but Bennett couldn’t work out what all the fuss was about.

“I don’t know what you’re making such a fuss about to be honest with you,” Bennett said.

“It’s there it’s not broken. The day it is it’ll be a great moment, but no one can predict when and where, so what are we going to live the rest of our lives until that happens and what’s Alex going to do?

“Let’s just get on with our lives. That’s what he is doing and it’ll come and we’ll all celebrate it. Even if we have got to get Cody (Walker) off the stretcher we will celebrate it.”

However, Bennett admitted Johnston was lucky to get his 210th try amid a forward pass from Tallis Duncan that wasn’t picked up.

“I don’t think the ref was game to take it off him to be honest with you,” Bennett said.

“Yeah it was marginal that pass.”

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Souths skipper Cody Walker admitted it would be a huge record to be a part of, which drew a hilarious response from his coach.

“Yeah, I think so, we’ll see what happens, see how they defend us,” Walker said when asked if Johnston can get a hat-trick against the Roosters in Souths’ final game of 2025.

“It’s history making. Just to be a part of it, I couldn’t imagine what he’s going through. It’s a record that’s been around forever. And we’re this close to breaking it, so I couldn’t imagine what’s gone through his head, but just to be a part of something like that would be very, very special.”

“You could be on the bench, though,” Bennett interjected.

“I’ll still run on,” Walker shot back.

Walker was impressive again off the bench in his second game back from injury and Bennett admitted Souths have missed his class and that of many of his teammates this year amid a horror casualty ward.

“Well, there’s about seven Cody’s that aren’t playing for us and when they come out, they do bring that excellence that they have,” Bennett said.

“Latrell was the same two weeks ago at the Titans. That’s why your top players make your club.

“But I’m really proud of the guys below that, that have put their hand up and taken a fair bit of responsibility with it and we have fought every game and we’ve tried hard in every game. And tonight was just a reward for all they’ve done.”

Bennett quipped he might have to actually make some tough selection calls for the final round against the Roosters.

“Well, I might have to make some decisions about team selection,” Bennett said.

“I haven’t had to do that.

“Cody finished his normal way today where he came off early. He assures me that he is good. “He is used to coming off early now he doesn’t want to stay to the end of games anymore.”

Souths could make it four straight wins to end the season if they beat the Roosters in Round 27, which drew another hilarious response from Bennett.

“We’ve got four straight wins already, we’ve got the bye next week.” Bennett said.

“We had a bye a couple of months ago and they tried to take the points off us, but we’re going better now, so they said we could have the points.

“You had us winning the wooden spoon two weeks ago, so just give us a break. We’ll see how we get to the game in two weeks and we can have the conversation after it.”