THE name Tom Johnstone has become synonymous with spectacular finishes, tremendous skill and electric pace.
But, with the end of the 2022 Super League season came the end of Johnstone’s Wakefield Trinity career after debuting back in 2015 for the West Yorkshire club.
In those eight seasons, the German-born winger earned a reputation for himself as one of the greatest wide men in Super League, scoring 87 tries in 115 appearances whilst earning one England cap back in 2018.
Now, Johnstone has moved onto pastures new to sign with the Catalans Dragons in the south of France as he attempts to leave a legacy on the European mainland after doing so in one city in West Yorkshire.
If Wakefield fans were panicking during the 2022 season about how they would replace the 27-year-old, fear not, they had a more than adequate replacement waiting in the wings who goes by the name of Lewis Murphy.
Just a year earlier, Murphy had signed a professional contract with Wakefield in July 2021 having come through their academy and impressing at an under-19s level, but nothing could prepare him for practically a full season in the first-team of a Super League side.
But, with Johnstone suffering from injury, the youngster stepped up to the plate, consolidating a place in Willie Poching’s 17-man squad each week. In fact, Murphy made 21 appearances for Trinity in 2022, scoring 19 tries in the process.
With electric pace himself, a remarkable finishing ability and a mature head on young shoulders, Wakefield fans should be excited about what is to come from the winger.
That in itself says the story: Wakefield fans do not need to worry about Johnstone leaving, Murphy is more than ready to become a week-in, week-out star and drive the standards at Trinity in the near and long-term future.
