Matthew Johns has made a career as a commentator, writer and believe it or not as a singer. His alter ego, ‘Reg Reagen’ is part of the very successful ‘Footy Show’ which airs every Thursday. He is more interested in bring back the biff (fighting) in the game and has recently released a DVD which features the hit song ‘Am I ever going to see the biff again’. Believe it or not, it has reached the Australian music charts.

Matthew Johns is the older brother of Newcastle captain Andrew Johns, who is one of the many to resist the temptation to switch codes and stick with Rugby League. He combined for many years with his brother at the Knights and played a major role in Newcastle winning their inaugural premiership in 1997 when they beat Manly 22-16 thanks to a last minute try from Darren Albert. Matthew played 176 first grade matches for Newcastle, behind only Tony Butterfield, Rob O’Davis, Marc Glanville and his brother.

A product of the Cessnock club from the local Newcastle competition, Johns made his State of Origin debut in 1995 when many of the leading players were banned from playing because they had signed with Super League. One of those players was Laurie Daley who had a mortgage on the number six jersey but with him missing because he had elected to go with Super League, it left the door open for Johns to make his debut in the opening match. Queensland won 2-0 thanks to a goal from Wayne Bartrim. He didn’t play in the next match in the next match with Brad Fittler playing five-eighth after he had played in the lock-forward position in the first game. Fittler returned to the number 13 jersey for the final match when Johns returned but it was Queensland that made it a clean sweep. John’s performance was enough to see him make his Test debut for Australia against the touring New Zealand and was part of the successful Kangaroos side that won the 1995 World Cup when they beat England in the final.

Johns played against Fiji in 1996 but had to wait another three years to wear the green and gold when he played in the Tri-Nations against New Zealand and Great Britain. Despite being one of Newcastle’s favourite sons, he was forced to leave the club because of the salary cap, which caused a public outcry among their fanatical supporters. Johns signed on to play for Wigan on a two-year deal and made his debut for Wigan in their 22-8 Challenge Cup loss at Knowsley Road on February 10th, 2001 and played his inaugural Super League match on March 2nd, when Wigan thrashed Warrington 34-6 at the JJB Stadium. He broke his try drought by round six in Wigan’s 5-24 loss to Bradford. By July of that year, reports were coming out of Australia that Cronulla were interested in Johns despite him being contracted to Wigan for a further season.

“I enjoyed my time at Wigan but wanted to return to Australia. So when the offer came from Cronulla, I jumped at it,” said Johns.

He scored three tries in his 25 appearances for Wigan and played in the Grand Final held at Old Trafford, Manchester. A crowd of 60,164 were on hand to see Bradford win 37-6.

Johns returned to Australia and featured in 21 matches for the Sharks, playing a key role for the club as they went to within a few minutes of reaching the Grand Final

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