Johnson winning the golden boot was on the back of a *handful* of golden boot worthy performances that year, including for the Kiwis. He as usual didn't turn up for large parts of the NRL season, it was a joke that he got named the best player in the world.
No one is denying his ability as a ball runner, he does things that almost nobody else in the world can. Is he a quality halfback though? Hell no. Last week's performance was one in a dozen, that's not enough if you want NRL success. We need him to become a 26 round player, not just a big game player.
It seems like that's what we do as a society sometimes. Shaun volunteers his Saturday morning to go brighten a few kids' lives at Manurewa, when a lot of his peers are at home playing FIFA or something as equally unconstructive, and the facebook comment squad give him shit about concentrating on his game, being a media whore etc.
Don't make it personal, I don't think any of his critics are slamming him as a person. I think he is a stand up guy and I have lots of respect for they way he carries himself off the field. A genuine role model, especially as you say compared to some of the muppets around him.
saw last year how much SJ is of value...case closed
He was there in 2012, 2013 and 2014 too mate, all dog seasons. If anything last year highlighted how this team falsely depends too much him, rather than what he actually brings to the table.
We slam him because we know he is capable of much better than his "two runs for ten metres" performances, similar to the way we rightfully expected more from say Tomkins. On their own they're fine, but relative to their potential it's disappointing.
