League: Fitting final farewell for 'Joey'

BRISBANE - When great basketballers or ice hockey players call time on their career in the US, their numbers are often retired and never used again.

Although it's not likely to ever happen in rugby league, it would be a fitting tribute to Andrew Johns.

Johns was convinced to pull on the Kangaroos jersey for one last foray against the Kiwis before concentrating on his club career and he showed on Friday night just what the international arena will miss.

When some players get the ball, they seem rushed and have little time or space. When Johns gets the ball, time seems to stand still. The 31-year-old halfback reads a game so well that he invariably takes the right options, is a constant threat with the ball in hand and has one of the best kicking games in the business.

It's between the white lines of a league pitch that Johns feels most comfortable. Put him in front of a microphone or a camera and he shies away from the attention.

Even on Friday night, when the Kangaroos enjoyed the applause of an appreciative crowd during their lap of honour, Johns was at the back of the pack, sometimes waving in his understated way or giving the thumbs up before he ducked into the tunnel to a standing ovation.

"I don't think they cheered me, they were cheering the team," said Johns, who as a New South Welshman has rarely been flavour of the month in Canetoad Country.

Although it was a deflating result for the Kiwis, it was a fitting farewell for Johns and the plaudits flowed in the aftermath.

"Andrew Johns is the greatest player I have ever seen since I have been around rugby league," Australian coach Ricky Stuart said. "You don't replace those type of players. We now have a hole at halfback because of the ability and the mark Andrew leaves on the game."

Across in the New Zealand dressing room, heir apparent Benji Marshall was also glowing in his praise of the man he had faced for only the first time in his career.

"It was a pleasure to play against the best in the world and it was definitely a learning curve for me," Marshall said. "I learned a lot watching him out here - just the way he controls the game, plays the game. It was an honour to play against him in his last test."

Johns' test career started with an 86-6 demolition of South Africa at the 1995 World Cup and finished 21 tests later at Suncorp Stadium.

Considering Ruben Wiki has amassed more than twice that number in just one year more, it shows how relatively few games Johns played at the highest level.

He shared an emotional embrace with Ben Kennedy, who also retired from representative league on Friday night ("I thought his goalkicking was outstanding," Johns quipped of Kennedy's late conversion from in front of the posts) before a final look at Suncorp Stadium while wearing the green and gold.

"Not many people get to go out like this," he said. "I was lucky enough to be given the chance to go out on home soil and to win by 50 out there after the way the Kiwis played last year..."

That is about as emotional as Andrew Johns gets off the field. He still has his sights set on winning another premiership title with Newcastle and the way he's playing, it can't be discounted.

It's a consolation for the Kiwis that they will never again have to line up against the world's greatest player.

But the game of rugby league will be the worse for it.