Matthew and Andrew Johns have ended their bitter feud a year after their combustible relationship blew up in flames on live radio.
Newcastle’s favourites sons buried the hatchet after Matthew’s son Jack triggered an impromptu reunion.
They had not been speaking since Andrew stormed out of a live radio broadcast SEN with Matty joking: “it’s official – my brother is completely off me”.
The rift started when Matty was talking up the intricacies of Billy Slater’s Origin coaching efforts and Joey, a member of the Blues staff, got shirty about it.
“I’m sick of you rapping Queensland, that’s what I’m sick of. You’re blowing smoke up their backsides, I couldn’t care less about Queensland. They’re the enemy. We grew up hating them, we grew up watching ‘The King’ (Wally Lewis) absolutely kill us.”
Matty revealed on his NewsCorp Olympic podcast that his eldest son, who also played for the Knights, brought the feuding retired greats together.
“Jack says, ‘I don’t like what’s going on between you and Uncle Joey. I don’t like it. It’s not right.’ I say ‘we’re brothers’,” Matty explained.
“He goes ‘no, it’s not right.’ So one day I’m sitting on the lounge. Sunday afternoon I think it was. I’m having a couple of beers. He goes ‘do you want to go for a drive Dad?’
“We’re driving. We’re going over the Spit Bridge. ’Mate, where are we going?’ As we went over the Harbour Bridge, I knew where he was taking me. So I’m sitting at the front (of Andrew’s house), I’m in the car, and I say ‘Mate, C’mon’.
“And he said ‘get the f**k up there.’ He knocked on the door, and opened it up, and I gave Joey a big cuddle.”
Tevita Pangai jnr celebrates after scoring. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Pangai set to leave Dolphins
Tevita Pangai jnr may only be with the Dolphins for a short stint with the mid-season recruit set to sign a lucrative deal in the Super League.
French club Catalan Dragons gave weighed in with a huge offer for Pangai who has been in strong form at prop for the Dolphins since his club debut in June.
He had been linked with a return to Sydney to play for Souths under Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett next year but he has reportedly agreed to terms with the Super League outfit.
It is a bitter blow for the Dolphins as they prepare for Sunday’s Suncorp Stadium stoush with the Warriors.
Dolphins forward Felise Kaufusi has a simple answer to how his side can get their NRL campaign back on track and play finals.
“Winning solves everything,” Kaufusi grinned, in a response of pure simplicity that would have been music to his coach Bennett’s ears.
The Dolphins have lost seven of their last nine to slip two points outside the top eight, where they were situated from round two until round 21.
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Sun, 11 Aug 2024, 16:05
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Six of those losses have been by seven points or less. Four wins from the next five games are necessary to get to 32 points and a maiden finals appearance, starting with the Warriors at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
The Dolphins have been brought undone by their dire second halves. In recent weeks Bennett has used terms like “self-destruct” and “making errors under 10s wouldn’t make” to describe what has occurred. The bottom line is the Dolphins have forgotten how to win and need to start remembering.
They trailed 12-0, unusually, against the Sydney Roosters last week but led 26-20 early in the second half before losing 40-34. “Our second halves have been our Achilles heel,” Kaufusi said.
“We’ve found ourselves in good positions and slipped away. We’re trying to address that. We started slow last week and you can’t give the good sides a lead like that.
“We’ve got to learn from it. We haven’t been in those positions too much.”
Bennett has also had a simple message for the team. “Don’t give up,” Kaufusi said.
“We’ve still got five games to go and we’re in the hunt. I’ve got the belief. We’re just out of touch. A winning game or two will get us back in there.”
with AAP
