Matthew Johns recalls Paul Green’s cheeky words after awesome man-of-the-match debut with the Sharks

Newcastle Knights legend turned TV star Matthew Johns has recalled his fond memories of Paul Green and the incredible – and immediate – impact he had when he made his debut in the world’s best rugby league competition. 

Back in the days before the unified NRL, there was the Brisbane Rugby League and the New South Wales Rugby League – the latter being by far the stronger of the two.

Many big-name players in Brisbane would pack their bags to test themselves in the NSWRL to earn the bigger dollars on offer – and get a rude shock at the jump in talent.

Not Paul Green.

Fresh off claiming the BRL Rothmans Medal in 1993, he would travel down to take up a contract with the Cronulla Sharks in 1994, where he won the same medal in 1995 in the more developed competition.

Former Knights and Sharks five-eighth Matthew Johns played against Green in that debut year and marvelled at how quickly he adapted.

Speaking on a special tribute edition of Late Night with Matty Johns about the late halfback and champion coach, Johns revealed the classic interview after Green’s NSWRL debut. 

‘He came down and in round one in 1994 it was Cronulla versus Canberra,’ he said.

‘You’ve got to remember that in 1994 Canberra were just the absolute powerhouse. You’ve got [Bradley] Clyde, you’ve got Ricky [Stuart], Loz [Laurie Daley], [Brett] Mullins, Mal [Meninga], [Rueben] Wiki – it just goes on and on. They were absolute superstars.

‘Canberra would go on to win the competition, they belted the Bulldogs in the grand final.

‘But in round one, Cronulla upset them and Greeny was man of the match. He just absolutely carved them up.

‘I remember after the game he was interviewed and he said words to the effect of: “Yeah, really I thought it would be tougher”.

‘I remember thinking to myself “cocky bastard”. But that was the personality.’

Daley admitted they were shocked on that day that the unknown No.7 from Brisbane was able to carve them up so ruthlessly.

‘We didn’t really know who he was because he had come down from Brisbane and he was obviously only a little fella,’ he said.

‘As you do in those days, you thought, “Well, he’s only little so we’ll give it to him”.

‘We sent a few forwards at him but he was able to get in underneath and he had a really good tackling technique, he would put them on their backside.

‘He was very good with the ball, very smart player.

‘He was always confident and he always spoke up, always explained himself extremely well.’

There were plenty of larrikin moments throughout Green’s career, like the time he had to front the 1993 Brisbane Rugby League Rothmans Medal ceremony and receive the award with no eyebrows, because his great mate and future Sharks teammate Craig ‘Knuckles’ Greenhill had shaved them off.

Or the time Alfie Langer busted his hand throwing a punch at the cheeky halfback, only to meet him for a beer an hour later.

‘He’s always the bloke you want to chat with, always got a cheeky wit on him,’ his former Maroons and Kangaroos teammate Wendell Sailor said on Triple M.

‘No one had a bad word to say about Paul Green.’