‘I want to be in that England set up’ - Ashes call-up and World Cup on Wakefield returnee’s radar

A youth academy product at Belle Vue, Johnstone made his senior debut as a 19-year-old in 2015, and went onto make over 100 appearances across eight seasons.

He developed a burgeoning reputation for speed and finishing down the left wing, catching the eyes of the England selectors who called him up for his first cap in 2018.

A move to the south of France then transpired as he starred for Catalans Dragons in 2023 but last year, in his own words, was a “turbulent” one as he missed most of the campaign due to suffering a broken leg in July.

By that point he had already put pen to paper on a deal with Trin from 2025. And he has now confirmed he is fit and ready for the new campaign, with plenty of personal goals to achieve.

Johnstone told the Wakefield Express: “I’m ready to go. It’s felt like home since the minute I walked back through the doors, albeit very different.

“The club’s drastically changed since I was last here, in terms of the facilities and also in terms of ambitions, what they want to achieve and the mindset of the club.

“We all have the same vision. It’s really exciting. They explained what they want to achieve. It was too good to pass up. I can see the club building to create something special.”

He added: “I’ve set a lot of goals for myself personally in what I want to achieve this year. I have had quite a bit of time to sit and think about it since I last played. I won’t say them all, but I will say my ambition is always to play international.

“I have had my eyes set on hopefully playing in a World Cup at some point in my career. There’s one next year which everyone wants to be playing in. That’s the main one for me.

“There’s also the Ashes at the end of this year. There’s not been an Ashes since 2003, that’s huge, they don’t come around too often. I want to play in that as well.

“I want to be in that England set up, that’s the main thing for me. I want to perform for Wakefield.”

Will he be able to regain his tag as Super League’s super speedster?

“I think that tag’s well and truly gone now,” he laughed.

“I still want to be regarded as a quick player but there are some seriously quick players in the league like Matty Ashton and Jai Field.

“I have transitioned a bit now, I am not as much as just a finisher who stands wide anymore, I’ve put a lot of weight on, I’m a good two stone heavier from when I debuted.

“Now I am more bothered about making my yardage carries good and doing my job really well.

“It will still be nice to make the odd break and be known as quite a quick player but I’ll have to step back and bow down to them in terms of speed nowadays.”