Andrew Johns, the celebrated former Newcastle Knights player, recently cut short his surfing vacation after a surprising encounter with local wildlife. Johns reportedly called his family to share an unusual tale of local monkeys seemingly forming an alliance against him. Known for his passion for surfing, Johns is frequently seen catching waves at Bronte Beach, a popular spot in Sydney.

In his conversation on the Howie Games podcast, Johns has previously described his favorite surfing destinations across the globe, highlighting spots in Indonesia, Fiji, and New Zealand. As a revered figure in rugby league, Johns has had the opportunity to surf alongside notable personalities such as All Blacks coach Scott Robertson, former NRL star John Sutton, and professional surfer Mick Fanning.

Johns counts iconic surfers like Kelly Slater and Matt Hoy among his friends. His commitment to the sport is evident, as he even sustained a significant hand injury while surfing on a reef in the Cook Islands last year. Demonstrating his deep connection to surfing, Johns and his wife Kate Kendall tied the knot at G-Land in Java, a well-known surfing destination, in 2024.

So there is very little that will keep Johns away from a good wave – except for monkeys. That’s right, the gladiator of the State of Origin arena and NRL premiership winner has called time early on a surfing trip because he was afraid of being ganged up on by monkeys.

At least that is the story his brother Matty, his wife Trish and their children Jack and Cooper told on their family podcast. ‘Speaking of people camping at the moment, Uncle Joe rang me for my birthday this morning,’ Jack said. ‘So he’s in G-Land at the moment, so that’s like Java in Indonesia. So he had to fly in and then beach it across.

‘He’s staying in this village and he looks like it is driving him mad. ‘He wished me happy birthday and I could tell, just by looking at him, he was a bit off. ‘He reckons he has to walk around with a stick because the monkeys have just got it out for him. ‘He’s coming home a day early because he honestly believes the monkeys are teaming up on him in groups of three.

‘One will distract him and the other two will try and circle around him to try and steal stuff from his room. It gets better. Jack said that the Eighth Immortal was also convinced the village he was staying at was haunted by ghosts. ‘So he was saying that his village is secluded because apparently there’s rumors of like ghosts.

‘Although he’s not very spiritual, I think it’s starting to turn him. ‘It’s like a ghost-infested village while they’re surfing over there and I think it’s driving him pretty mad.’ However Jack revealed that Johns sent him video footage proving the monkeys were ganging up on him.

‘He just sent me a vision of like him on his patio outside his room,’ Jack said. ‘And there’s a monkey – I’m going to add (the vision) in to the poddy this week – it’s a monkey just staring at him from the roof and in fairness it does look like this monkey has it out for him.’