Joey available for Kangaroos!

[DIEHARD]

Joey reveals his playing future
By Barry Toohey

Auastralia coach Ricky Stuart drove to Newcastle yesterday for a secret lunch with Andrew Johns - hoping to entice the champion Newvastle Knights skipper into playing a Test swan song against the Kiwis in May.

Stuart returned to Sydney a few hours later with a commitment from Johns to make himself available.

But the news was not so bright for Graham Murray and the NSW Blues with Johns revealing he has played in his last State of Origin series.

"If I am picked for the Test, it will be my last representative game," Johns said last night.

"As much as I have loved playing Origin footy and it will hurt when the series comes around and I am not part of it, my priority now is with the Knights.

"I desperately want to win another premiership with the club before I retire and to do that, I know I have to manage my body the best I can.

"The six weeks around Origin time just takes too big a toll and it would be the Knights who would suffer afterwards. I hope the fans out there can understand that."

Johns last night rang Murray, who will coach the Blues for the first time, to tell him personally of his decision.

Asked why he had made himself available for the May 5 Test in Brisbane and was not quitting representative football altogether, Johns said the one-off game would not impact on his commitment to the Knights.

He also claimed Australia's loss to the Kiwis in the Tri-Nations last season still burned inside him.

"In the past decade or so, Origin football has probably meant more to a lot of our players than Test footy," he said. "But after New Zealand beat us in the Tri-Nations, that has turned around for me anyway.

"The Test coming up is the chance to put us back on top again. Ricky is really passionate about it and wants to get that passion back for Test footy," Johns added.

"I told him I want to be part of that. I've just got to play well now and hope I get picked."

Johns also revealed the memory of his last two Tests for his country is not a happy one.

"I played with a crook knee in my last two Tests and played ordinary as a result," he said.

"I don't really want to look back on my Test career and know that I finished on a fairly poor note.

"To be honest, I was prepared to pull the pin over the off-season.

"I'd virtually made up my mind, but given our start to the season and with my body holding up really well, I'd love one last opportunity."

The Daily Telegraph

[DeeGan]

All the more reason to get to this test - the last representative game for perhaps the greatest player of all-time. Be part of history

[Dakink]

Great to see the comment

"In the past decade or so, Origin football has probably meant more to a lot of our players than Test footy," he said. "But after New Zealand beat us in the Tri-Nations, that has turned around for me anyway.

I am an unabated International fan and would love to see the international game become just as fierce as the SOO.

[DIEHARD]

Yea best quote all year so far from Joey. That is what we like to see.

We will see the passion return to Test footy on a scale that hasnt been seen for decades on May 5th.

[HodgoBerro]

i must admit its good to see joey back in the green and gold - however i've never been a fan of him therefore never liked him