Tim Johannssen gave Rugby League away last year but a random phone call from Ryde-Eastwood Hawks in February steered him back to the game and now he is poised to make his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers tonight (Thursday 1 August).
The young prop has been named on coach Benji Marshall’s bench for the Round 22 game against North Queensland Cowboys at Leichhardt Oval.
Hawks Football Operations Manager Michael Frain said it had been quite a ride for Johannssen but showed how well the NSWRL pathways competitions work.
“It’s a great example of how players can get into a club and move through the tiers and this can happen,” he told nswrl.com.au.
“It emphasises the quality of the Sydney Shield and (Leagues Clubs Australia) Ron Massey Cup competitions, which then get you noticed by the NRL feeder clubs (The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup) and away you go.
“The system works and Tim is living proof of it.”
Frain didn’t know Johannssen (Photo above: Bryden Sharp) personally, when he picked up the phone to the former Newcastle junior in mid-February this year.
“He’d given away the game at the end of last year but I rang him anyway ahead of our trials and asked him if he wanted to come to Ryde-Eastwood Hawks,” Frain said.
“But he knocked me back - told me he had retired and wasn’t interested in playing.”
However, Johannssen rang Frain back 48 hours later and said he’d come down to watch the Hawks train and something clicked.
He ended up being selected for the Hawks for a Sydney Shield trial game two weeks later.
In Round One of 2024 he found himself on the bench for the Leagues Clubs Australia Ron Massey Cup and spent the next two months in the NSWRL second tier competition. That was until he invited with a group of players to move up and train with the Western Suburbs Magpies in The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup.
Johannssen has played 12 matches with the Magpies in The Knock-On Effect Cup in 2024, after making his NSW Cup debut in 2022 against the Newcastle Knights.
Now he becomes a Wests Tigers NRL player.
“He’s got his opportunity and he’s not looked back,” Frain said.
