Les Johns (born 1942 in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

) is a former Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Club career

Les Johns started his career at Newcastle's Souths club. He then played nine seasons for the Canterbury-Bankstown club between 1963–1971. He scored 14 tries and 233 goals and 19 field goals for

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs ...

during his career. He has been named among the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. He was a fullback of considerable flair and on his day could be one of the most brilliant attacking and defensive players in the game. He was forced to retire from rugby league in 1971 due to chronic knee injuries.

Representative career

Johns played sixteen games for the

New South Wales rugby league team The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the ann ...

between 1962–1969. He represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on fourteen occasions between 1963–1969, first touring with the 1963/64

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No.382.

Accolades

In February 2008, Johns was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. He was made a life member of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in 2011. In 2010 Johns was also named in a South Newcastle team of the century.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Les 1942 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Clive Churchill Medal winners New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales South Newcastle Lions players