Kiwi Kerri primed for special away game on home soil

Broncos flyer Kerri Johnson is counting the days until she takes the field in Waikato for a very special homecoming.

The 22-year-old played for the Melbourne Rebels in the Australian Super Rugby competition and returned home to play for the Auckland Blues in the 2024 and 2025 Super Rugby Aupiki seasons before joining the Broncos.

Johnson hails from Kaikohe on New Zealand’s North Island and had never played rugby league before this year, which makes her seven tries in nine games even more impressive.

Among her haul was a four-pointer in her debut game in Round 1 when she also ran for 176 metres, and one last weekend against the Bulldogs which she dedicated to her best friend Shanti Solomon-Peeni’s grandmother, who passed away last week.

“I was a bit down because I wasn't able to be there [for Shanti], but I messaged her and said, ‘If I get a try, it’s going to be for your nan’," Johnson said.

"I'm so glad I got a try for her."

Now nine games into her first rugby league season and with finals beckoning, Johnson said being part of such a talented team inspired her to work on her game and look to improve every week.

"The speed of it, like how fast everything goes, even just the continuous playing, I really like it," she said.

"You just get in the grind and just keep going.

“All the girls always lift each other up. If one person does something really good, we all just feed off it and our team is full of amazing people, so we always do good things.

"Mele [Hufanga] helps me a lot and she is such a good human being. Yeah, she's helped me through a lot.”

The Broncos head to Hamilton sitting pretty in second place with an 8-1 record but Johnson said they remain wary of the seventh-placed Warriors.

“They're looking really strong in their forward pack, so I think we're just going to have to try and stop their forward pack and then also out on the edge to have a lot of skill there… hopefully try and shut them down,” she said.

“The coach just wants me to keep running hard, getting involved a lot more, helping out in the back five and just getting in there doing more work so the forwards are getting more rest.”