As the saying goes, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
That is unless you’re a ex-NRL footballer working for Sydney’s biggest radio show like former Manly player Cooper Johns.
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Having called an end to his NRL career at the age of just 24 to join KIIS FM’s radio behemoth The Kyle and Jackie O Show in January meant Johns wouldn’t miss out on the NRL’s first season-opening double header in Las Vegas.
While his former team will opened proceedings against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Sunday (Australian time), Johns has been out and about for the radio show, getting content from the Vegas Strip ahead of the season opener.
NRL stars had been warned of “sex traps” and extortion attempts in Sin City by Las Vegas police boss Kendall Bell.
The NRL even provided 10 security guards per team.
But that didn’t extend to the media following the game, meaning Johns, the son of Newcastle champion and Fox Sports personality Matthew, was left largely to his own devices.
Speaking on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday morning, Cooper revealed that he had almost fallen prey to a honey trap.
Johns said he’d “had a few schooners” the night before and was feeling a bit worse for wear.
Having been hard at work capturing content in his new role for the radio show, the former NRL first-grader almost landed himself in a sticky situation, if not for his girlfriend Kenna.
“Last night, I jumped in a limo on the way back from the strip and I ended up in the back of a limo with my missus (Kenna Hullick) and one of my mates and this girl was already in the limousine,” Johns said.
“She was just in there and said she was mates with the driver so the driver just drives her around.
“I was pretty intoxicated so I thought ‘that’s not suspicious at all. What a completely normal thing to be doing?’
“We got to our hotel and she goes ‘do you guys mind if I come up and use your toilet?’
“So I’ve gone, so naive to it, ‘yeah, come up and do a s**t if you want to do a s**t’.
“Kenna and my mate are going ‘nah you can’t come up’.
“Turns out she was a prostitute and their scam is they try to weasel their way into your room and then their pimp or something will come to your door and try to extort you for money, saying you hired her.”
Sandilands interjected, saying: “I live for the day a pimp tries to come and extort me for money! He’d get b***h-slapped.”
Jackie added: “And your girlfriend had the sense to stop that happening.
Sandilands: “Did she have the sense or was she c**k-blocking what was going to go on?”
Johns said: “I wish she wasn’t in the limo with me, I’ll tell you that much guys. I would have loved to see where it took me if she wasn’t there.”
Johns said she didn’t look like a stereotypical escort, adding “I just thought she was into me”.
Where there was no harm, no foul in the incident, there have been some scary scenarios for other members of the media so far during the Vegas trip.
A TV reporter was held at knifepoint and another team was surrounded by three cars during late-night crosses in Los Angeles while covering the Brisbane Broncos ahead of the historic season opener.
One of the reporters admitted it was “the most terrifying experience of my life”.
Cooper announced his retirement from rugby league in January after he hadn’t been offered a new deal by Manly.
He had dipped his toe in the water with regular contributions on the Kyle and Jackie O Show last year but dived in head first this year.
Johns was a five-eighth with Manly, playing eight games in 2023 on a train and trial deal with the Sea Eagles. He also played 11 games for the Melbourne Storm between 2020 and 2022.
His dad Matthew, who played in Newcastle’s 1997 premiership, has transitioned into a full-time media career with Fox League, SEN and his own Matty Johns podcast after retiring from rugby league.
Cooper’s uncle Andrew Johns played in two premierships with Newcastle and is the most recent players to be named a Rugby League Immortal.
Cooper’s brother Jack Johns, 26, played two games for the Rabbitohs and 14 games for Newcastle before announcing he was leaving the Knights at the end of the 2023 season.
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