Wayne Bennett praised Alex Johnston after his four try heroics and Latrell Mitchell after his side nearly pulled off a miracle win in their 25-24 Golden Point defeat to the Storm.

FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer >

Johnston moved to within six tries of Ken Irvine’s record 212 tries with a superb four tries and Latrell Mitchell set up four including the one to send it to golden point.

IMAGINE WHAT YOU COULD BE BUYING INSTEAD. Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.

“I said to him at half time, have you got another try in you and he said I have got another couple in me,” Bennett said of Johnston.

“And it’s the first time ever he scored four tries in a game, so that’s been a long and remarkable career, so he’s pretty pleased with himself and we are too.”

Bennett revealed Souths are hopeful of re-signing Johnston on a contract extension beyond 2025.

“We’re negotiating with him and we believe that will happen, but it hasn’t happened yet, so there’s a bit more negotiations to be done,” Bennett said.

Bennett was full of praise for Mitchell, who ran for 110 metres and nearly kicked a match winning field goal at the death after missing a match winning penalty goal moments earlier.

“He’s a special player and he was special tonight,” Bennett said.

“He just means a lot to us and with so many players missing he’s been standing up for us and I didn’t want to play him tonight.

“But with Jye Gray’s broken thumb I had to play him, so I thought he was great. But he had a lot of good players out there with him as well.”

Souths skipper Jack Wighton echoed Bennett’s sentiments on Mitchell backed up from Origin three days later with a masterclass for Souths.

“It’s been great mate, he was unreal on Wednesday night and he’s come back with a positive attitude after a tough game and you see the leader he was out there tonight,” Wighton said.

“If you have a look at that try with Ty (Munro), there’s nothing going on there and he puts us in front again, so it’s good to have him back and the big fella is killing it.”

Wighton was pressed on Mitchell’s grubber for Tyrone Munro on third tackle which saw him score in the corner and lock it up at 24-24.

“It’s just Trell, when he’s on, he’s on mate, and that’s the type of stuff you get,” Wighton said.

MORE NRL NEWS

GOLDEN POINT CHAOS! Paps ices winner; Storm sink Souths despite Latrell heroics

WHISPERS: Sexton shopped to Tigers amid Titans’ reunion interest as deadline looms

SOUTHS SUPPORT: Schuster takes indefinite break from NRL for mental health

“And also all the other boys mate with their hard work and we fought right to the end there and we fell short, but still a lot of positives out of that game.”

Despite the loss Souths have had a solid month of football in close losses to four top four teams and Bennett agreed his team has plenty of fight.

“I’ll have to agree with you for change,” Bennett said.

“They’ve been fighting back every week, they don’t give up so it’s a great quality they have and it’s the one thing that we don’t want to lose. It’s their strength, their ability not to give up regardless of what the scoreboard is.”

Bennett conceded injuries have played a part in Souths’ season as they sit 15th after 16 rounds, but is confident his team can match the top sides when the troops return.

“Well I hope we’ve learned a lot out of them and I think we have and I think we realise, we’re not a top four team yet,” Bennett said.

“If we get all the players back, we probably will be a top four team. But right now these guys, the players that have turned up every week for us and haven’t had the injuries, they’ve been outstanding so that puts us in good stead.

“But we’ve played the top four teams in the last month and have been in all the games, so we can take a lot of confidence out of that and we’ve got to go back now and start winning.”

Bennett said the cavalry could arrive this week with up to four players returning from injury.

“Well it could be three or four of them next week,” Bennett said.

“But I’m just not sure yet so I won’t worry about speculating about it but it could be three or four of them back.”

Bennett refused to comment on Josh Schuster, who has been granted indefinite leave by the club to look after his mental health.

“I don’t want to talk about Josh, that’s personal stuff,” Bennett said.

“The world doesn’t need to know about Josh Schuster. Just to understand he’s safe and he’s being cared for by a lot of people.”