Its a sad state of affairs, but as reported recently – former Newcastle Knights dynamic duo Matt and Andrew Johns haven’t been on speaking terms for some time now.
Since the breaking of the Matt Johns affair just under 12 months ago, the pair have hit rocky waters in their relationship with Matt feeling that his brother should have stood by him, as he did for Andrew years before in the drug affair.
With such public interest and debate over the Matt Johns situation, the likable TV personality was forced off air and felt harshly treated by his employer Channel 9 as his image was ripped to shreds in the public eye.
As Andrew also worked for Channel 9, it’s believed that Matt wanted more support and possibly Andrew to resign from the network in protest over how Matt was treated.
Admittedly Channel 9 did treat things a bit like a circus. The Current Affair Tracey Grimshaw interview with Matt and his wife Trish was an extremely uncomfortable setup. Almost all viewers felt awkward as they watched the married couple grilled for an extended period.
Matt was understandably a wreck after the whole situation, as would be his wife obviously.
However, when the opportunity arose to start a new program on Channel 7 – there was some talk that Andrew could link up with his brother in the show to rival the NRL Footy Show on Channel 9.
It’s hard to know the contractual details of the Andrew Johns contract, but if there was any ‘get out’ clause in the agreement – you would think he should walk away from Channel after how they treated his brother?
When Andrew’s drug affair broke years ago, Matt was the first on the front foot – defending his brother and supporting him right throughout the situation. However, it does seem that the same defence was not offered by Andrew when Matt was in his darkest hour.
Joey probably needed to do more and stick up for his brother and close mate this time round.
It’s set to get even more competitive, as the NRL Footy Show on Channel 9 goes to air this Thursday night (with Andrew Johns featuring in the promos) and the new Matt Johns Footy Show appearing in 3 weeks time – they will be head to head and it’s hard to see the family differences being mended anytime soon given this situation.