The South Sydney Rabbitohs have confirmed star winger Alex Johnston will remain with the club until at least the end of 2025.
The re-signing completes quite the story for the La Perouse junior, who was almost let go by Wayne Bennett and the Rabbitohs before signing an 11th-hour contract the last time he was up for renewal.
That circumstance hasn't been repeated this time however, with one of the game's best try-scorers adding three years to his time at Redfern.
At just 26 years of age, Johnston has already made 166 NRL appearances, scoring a staggering 136 tries. He is well on track to break records during his career, with this contract to take him through until 30, when he could be expected to sign a final contract.
The one-club star who debuted for the Rabbitohs in 2014 scored an unprecedented 30 tries in just 22 games this season, including a stretch between Round 12 and 18 when he scored 15 tries in six games.
He has become one of the best wingers in the game on a dangerous left edge led by Cody Walker, who also broke records for try assists this season and will be on the Rabbitohs' radar to re-sign as November 1 approaches.
South Sydney's head of football Mark Ellison said Johnston was an important player to lock down for the club.
“Alex is a tremendous finisher and is really building the other areas of wing play such as kick returns and defence,” Ellison said.
“He is a proud Indigenous man that rose to the Rabbitohs from La Perouse in the Souths Juniors competitions and has gone on to represent Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Indigenous All Stars so far in his career.
“He is a popular member of the squad and is becoming one of the leading senior players at the Club.
“We’re very excited to be able to extend his contract for a further three years on top of his existing contract and look forward to seeing him score many more tries in that left corner in the years to come.”
Johnston said he wanted to bring a premiership to the club.
“I’m stoked to be staying at the Club for a further three years and hopefully it’s another step in staying as a one-club player,” Johnston said.
“The last couple of years have been massive and I’ll be doing everything I can to ensure we go one step further than we did this year and win more premierships for this Club.