Penrith flyer Tom Jenkins had never heard of Dave Brown until it emerged he was a chance of doing the unthinkable in rugby league – breaking his 91-year try-scoring record this season.
Brown scored 38 tries for Easts during the 1935 season in 15 games. Newtown’s Ray Preston bagged 34 tries in 1954, while South Sydney’s Alex Johnston got 30 tries in 2021 and again in 2022.
Johnston, who remains the only player in the NRL era to score 30 tries in a season and has 19 this campaign, was meant to go up against Jenkins and Penrith on Friday night before he was grounded by a calf injury.
Which leaves Jenkins as the only hope of toppling Brown.
Jenkins has 22 tries in 15 games, and requires 17 tries from nine remaining regular-season games, and possibly three or four finals, depending on how Penrith progresses in the finals.
“It’s definitely doable, but having said that, I could score a double one week, then go a few weeks without getting across the line, so who really knows,” Jenkins said of breaking the record.
“I actually hadn’t heard of Dave Brown until this year when there was talk about the record. For him to score 38 tries, he was clearly doing something right.
“I probably got asked about the tries more at the start of the year when I was on that streak [16 tries in the first seven games].
“It’s cool, it’s mad, and there’s no way I’m playing down the fact it’s an awesome.
“But at the end of the day, they’re just tries. Defence wins games, and I’d rather see us win 2-0. As long as we win and keep playing our style of footy, that’s all that matters.”
Jenkins rated his aerial try, when he leapt over Canterbury winger Marcelo Montoya, a personal favourite this season, along with the rare long-range try when he bagged four against the Roosters.
The 25-year-old was given the nickname “Milky” by a former coach, Lee Hopkins, because of his porcelain skin – not his moustache that looks like a milk stain. Jenkins says he has never been sunburnt during a hot Penrith pre-season.
He grew up in Boorowa, a dot on the map about an hour’s drive west of Canberra, and played with the Young Cherrypickers. He also helped install giant wind turbines when COVID struck and he was forced to return home to live with his folks and three siblings.
A day after he signed a contract extension with the Panthers a couple of weeks ago, Jenkins had a memory pop up on his phone from seven years ago.
“It was the day I signed my first deal with Penrith,” he said.
“It was worth about $5000, maybe $7500, plus a living-away-from-home allowance.
Jenkins knows if he is going to continue getting across the line, including on Friday night at CommBank Stadium, he will need to come up with a try celebration, rather than booting the ball into the stands with his left boot.
“I need something, don’t I?,” he said.
“I used to be able to do backflips as a kid. If I did one now, chances are I’d break an ankle or something, and [coach] Ivan Cleary would shoot me. Or worse, yell at me. We’ll see what happens if I can think of something before Souths.”
With Jenkins threatening on the left wing, Penrith will have the added bonus of Brian To’o attacking Souths on the other side of the field after his NSW Origin snub.
“I was disappointed for him because I know how hard he works and what kind of person he is,” Jenkins said of To’o’s omission from the Blues team for Origin III.
From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
