Albert Johnston

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name
Albert V Johnston
Nickname(s)
Ricketty
Born
Tuesday, 10th May, 1892
Died
Monday, 15th May, 1961 (Aged 69 years and 4 days)

Biography

Balmain junior toured NZ with the NSW team in 1913 but had to wait until after the end of WWI to win a Test jersey. After a season with Wests in 1918, 'Ricketty' Johnston joined Newtown and made his Test debut at five-eighth in the First Test on Australia’s ground-breaking tour of NZ in 1919. In the fourth Test of the series in Auckland, Johnston captained Australia to a 32-2 victory. Captaining NSW in two matches against the visiting Lions in 1920, he was selected to lead Australia in the opening Test of the Ashes series in the absence of champion centre Hilton Gilbert. Despite a last minute reshuffling of the team which saw Johnston move to halfback Australia won the match in Brisbane, 8-4. Although he lost the captaincy on Gilbert's return Johnston played in the remaining two Tests at five-eighth and helped Australia to secure the Ashes for the first time on home soil. Johnston joined Gilbert at the newly promoted St George club in 1921 (the veteran pivot lived in Oatley and was forced to move clubs because of the strict residential qualifications of the time). He and George Carstairs became the club's first Kangaroo tourists at the end of the year although Johnston had the honour of becoming St George's first Test player when he was chosen in the First Test at Leeds. Following his retirement, he was coach and sole selector at Newtown in 1923 & 1925-26 and also coached Wests (1924) and St George (1933-35) during his career. Johnston, who coached NSW in 1938-42 and 1946, was the Australian Test coach in the first post-war Ashes series in 1946.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NRL 112 9 2   - 31 67 39 6 59.82% List
City Cup 14 2 -   - 6 6 8 0 42.86% List
Tour Matches New South Wales Firsts 9 1 -   - 3 8 1 0 88.89% List
NRL Finals 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Tour Matches Australia 19 5 1   - 17 12 7 0 63.16% List
Test Series 8 2 -   - 6 5 3 0 62.50% List
The Ashes 4 - -   - - 2 2 0 50.00% List
Interstate Matches 3 2 -   - 6 2 1 0 66.67% List
Tour Matches Australasia II 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1919-21 9 2 -   - 6 6 3 0 66.67% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Metropolis 1913-15, 1920 5 - -   - - 5 0 0 100.00% List
NSW Firsts 1913, 1919-23 13 3 -   - 9 11 2 0 84.62% List
Australasia II 1922 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Overall1913-1923 19 3 0   0 9 16 3 0 84.21% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Balmain NSWRFL 1912 14 2 -   - 6 6 8 0 42.86% List
Balmain NSWRFL 1913 12 2 -   - 6 4 7 1 33.33% List
Balmain NSWRFL 1914 11 - -   - - 6 3 2 54.55% List
Balmain NSWRFL 1915 14 - -   - - 12 0 2 85.71% List
Balmain NSWRFL 1916 13 - -   - - 10 3 0 76.92% List
Balmain NSWRFL 1917 12 2 2   - 10 11 1 0 91.67% List
Western Suburbs NSWRFL 1918 9 - -   - - 6 3 0 66.67% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1919 10 1 -   - 3 5 4 1 50.00% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1920 8 2 -   - 6 5 3 0 62.50% List
St George NSWRFL 1921 5 - -   - - 2 3 0 40.00% List
St George NSWRFL 1922 4 - -   - - 0 4 0 0.00% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Balmain 1912-17 76 6 2   - 22 49 22 5 64.47% List
Western Suburbs 1918 9 - -   - - 6 3 0 66.67% List
Newtown 1919-20 18 3 -   - 9 10 7 1 55.56% List
St George 1921-22 9 - -   - - 2 7 0 22.22% List
Overall1912-1922 112 9 2   0 31 67 39 6 59.82% List

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Contributions: Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Rugby League Tables, Alan Katzmann, Bill Bates