‘There’s no limit’: The new goal fuelling Josh Addo-Carr
Josh Addo-Carr is standing at a petrol bowser about five metres away, filling up his big black car with ridiculously expensive diesel.
It’s 7.30pm on Sunday, less than two hours after Parramatta’s gritty 30-20 win over St George Illawarra — sealed by a 70-metre Addo-Carr special after he burned Dragons halfback Daniel Atkinson on the outside.
Addo-Carr’s father and younger sister are there, too, having watched the 30-year-old light it up in his second game of season two for the Eels.
Three days later, he’s at a sponsor’s event in Sydney promoting – you guessed it – his latest car: a customised JAC ute he designed himself.
“That petrol cost me $210, brah,” Addo-Carr says. “It’s pretty wild at the moment. I drove past a servo where I grew up and I remember petrol being 99 cents back in the day.”
Seizing on the obvious analogy, how full is his tank right now?
“I think just under a full tank,” he says.
When told the question was intended in a football sense, the speedster bursts out laughing.
“Sorry, brah. I reckon I’ve got four or five years left in me,” he says. “My body’s feeling amazing at the moment. I’m doing everything I can to play consistent football. There’s no limit.”
Addo-Carr will line up in Saturday’s “Battle of the West” against Penrith at CommBank Stadium as one of the top 10 try-scorers in Australian rugby league history, having leapfrogged the career tallies of Matt Sing and Hazem El Masri on Sunday.
The “Foxx” now has 160 tries from 203 appearances across his decade in first grade, with his most prolific seasons coming during his first and last years at Melbourne, in 2017 and 2021, when he crossed 23 times in each.
Addo-Carr writes down his goals in the notes app on his phone. He produced a length-of-the-field try in his 200th NRL game last season against the Warriors, but now has his sights set on a new milestone: 200 career tries.
And while it remains an outside chance, he isn’t ruling out a crack at Alex Johnston’s record.
“I love scoring tries and I’m not gonna hide from that. That’s what I get paid to do,” Addo-Carr says. “If it [breaking Johnston’s record] comes around, I’ll be happy as, and I know my family will be happy. It’d put a smile on their face.
“There’s still plenty of years left in me and hopefully, I can get 200 plus. It blows me away to be alongside some of the greatest players to ever play the game [on that list].”
Addo-Carr is 195 days younger than Johnston and trails him by 54 tries. He would likely need five standout seasons and a lean patch from Johnston at South Sydney – or potentially Papua New Guinea from 2028 – to have any hope of climbing to the top.
The speed is still there, at least. GPS data from Sunday’s match revealed Addo-Carr reached about 90 per cent of his top speed during that runaway try.
It’s times like these when Addo-Carr feels lucky to be playing footy, having done it the hard way after spending the first few years of his life in Doonside, a suburb neighbouring Mount Druitt wedged between Penrith and Parramatta.
After kicking off his league journey as a three-year-old at the Doonside Roos, Addo-Carr then moved to Earlwood Saints and ended up at Matraville Sports High School – because it was the only place that would accept him.
Through under-age stints at the Rabbitohs, Brisbane, Cronulla and then a first-grade debut at Wests Tigers in 2016, Addo-Carr carved out a stellar career with Melbourne and Canterbury before Jason Ryles threw him a lifeline at Parramatta.
“It’s pretty crazy,” he says. “Who would have thought? A young Aboriginal fella who grew up in housing commission who didn’t have the best childhood and had a single mum. I probably was never meant to make first grade, but just dug deep – there was lots of sacrifice and dedication.
“That’s what you want to do when you’re a young fella, especially when you come through first grade.
“It’s always special to have family down there and come watch you. Dad’s getting older and it’s about trying to make as many memories as possible. He didn’t come to too many games when I first started, but now he’s coming to start and enjoy life a bit.”
Whether Addo-Carr passes Johnston or not, he understands the significance of two Indigenous footballers being so visible.
“If we’re inspiring one Aboriginal kid out there or one TI [Torres Straight Islander] kid, then we’re doing our job,” Addo-Carr says. “Reach for the stars because that’s what we’ve done.”
The Eels are two from two with Addo-Carr in the side this year after their season opener against Melbourne ended in a 52-4 flogging. He was nursing a broken thumb.
Parramatta will need something special from Addo-Carr and his mates in the Eels back line if they are to knock off the Panthers, particularly after the premiership favourites thumped the Roosters 40-4 last week.
“They’ve definitely been one of the benchmarks of the past seven or eight years,” Addo-Carr says. “The battle of the west is always healthy competition. I absolutely love going head to head with those boys. They’re a team that don’t give you much. You’ve got to take the opportunities when they come.”
Tom Decent is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.