Son of a gun Cooper Johns will make his NRL debut for the injury-ravaged Melbourne Storm in Thursday night’s encounter with Parramatta.
Johns, the son of Newcastle premiership-winner Matthew Johns, comes into the Storm lineup at halfback after Jahrome Hughes was ruled out with a groin injury.
Even before Hughes was officially ruled out, Storm coach Craig Bellamy told the “cheeky and confident” young half to expect to play against the Eels.
He’s a different build than his dad and NRL Immortal uncle Andrew Johns, but his lively character and skill set is a dead giveaway for the gene pool.
“He’s pretty level-headed on and off the field which is probably not a Johns trait, I hope Matt and Joey don’t mind me saying that,” Bellamy laughed.
“He’s had a good education on life and footy obviously. He’s a very good kid.
“He’s very level-headed with his footy, as you can imagine.
“At training or when he’s been with our Renegades team he’s always got a big voice out there and at meetings he’s always got an opinion on most things, especially on footy.
“He’s a great kid to have around.”
Earlier this season his older brother Jack made his NRL debut with South Sydney.
Hughes, Dale Finucane (calf) and Suliasi Vunivalu (jaw) all joined a heaving Storm casualty ward this week.
Already sidelined is skipper Cameron Smith and Cameron Munster, while leading prop Jesse Bromwich was found guilty at the judiciary for a ‘hip drop’ tackle and will miss Thursday’s match.
“It’s a little bit for everybody to step up into their roles,” Bellamy said.
“We’re not asking the guys who have come in to be a replica of the guys they’re replacing, we just want them to get out there and play to their strengths.
“We’ve got a game plan where we can do that.”