Johnston’s Souths party ends in pain

ALEX Johnston’s try- scoring binge at ANZ Stadium ended in pain as South Sydney crushed the Warriors 36- 18 yesterday.

Johnston crossed three times to take his haul to 22 for the season, but limped off the field with a right hamstring injury as he completed his hattrick.

The Rabbitohs winger crossed twice in the second half as Souths piled on 24 points in 20 minutes to overturn a 18- 12 deficit in front of just 6213 fans.

His injury was about the only negative individual moment the 22- year- old has experienced at the ground this season.

His hat- trick took his streak to 17 tries in his past seven matches there, the best run of any player at any ground since 1980, according to Fox Sports Stats.

His season figure of 22 also tops the mark of 21 he set in his debut year of 2014, and is the equal- second most of any player in one year at the club in the past 60 years.

Damien Cook was also dynamite out of dummy- half for the Rabbitohs, while halves Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker had a field day in their fourth straight victory.

The result will be a bitter pill to swallow for the Warriors who also lost Kieran Foran to injury. They have now not won a match when out of finals contention since August 2009, while coach Stephen Kearney’s winning percentage away from home slumped to just 12.9 per cent.