Shaun Johnson

[Beavers Headgear]

Is there anyone out there that can get into this guy's head, and see what makes him tick ?

Imo, he is extremely weak mentally, and at NRL level when a big game comes up and he needs to be the man, he just doesn't perform. If he gets smashed early in a game, he retracts back into his shell and rarely gets sighted, there are many examples of this. For me he is one of the most frustrating players I've seen, has all the ability in the world but just doesn't seem to develop at all.

Granted he hasn't had any platform from the forwards to work off, but with his speed and skill he still has the opportunity to create something. What was the point of kicking on the 3rd tackle a couple of times in good attacking position when Addo-Carr easily has the pace to cover it ?

That leg injury has given him a crutch to lean on this season which hasn't advantaged him at all as it has given him an easy out. He did start to show something mid season when the run was easy, but when the whips were cracking at the end, he couldn't produce anything solid to help the team get over the line

Look at today's game, season on the line for both teams, Johnson is the worst half on the park

Some of his comments in the media show a bit of the problem as well. Brad Fittler made a comment on the footy show about Shaun needing to get his jersey dirty. A few days later Johnson is interviewed and basically says I couldn't care less what he has to say. For me, I'd be listening to a guy who achieved everything there is to achieve in the game

I may be a bit harsh on him sometimes, but he just frustrates the hell of me and we need to see some development from him for the Kiwis sake. McFadden certainly hasn't shown any ability to take him to the next level

 

[Leber]

He actually played well today imo. It's the other players that didn't

 

[WithTheDawn]

Not now, we are busy grieving.

 

[Iron Lion]

Totally agree with you, Johnson in my mind is simply not up to being an NRL half. He is a Fullback/centre but the warriors were desperate to manufacture an NRL half with his broken play skillset similar to in some ways to Stacey Jones.

Shaun Johnson keeps playing in the halves and im not sure the Warriors will make any finals series no matter who is on the books.

 

[ozbash]

He defends too much...

 

[Rich102]

He defends too much...

Yeah, himself.

 

[Cold Roses]

Yeah, himself.

Any chance of merging the three different Cappy/Coaching threads Rich? It's gonna get confusing.

 

[jaseg]

There's precisely one half in the competition that can play well with a team playing rubbish around him - and that guy may well be the best halfback ever.

Johnson's had a very good season - to say otherwise is to misunderstand his role, or completely over-exaggerate your judgement of him based one or two games, rather than an entire season.

He's certainly not the reason we didn't make finals this year.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

There's precisely one half in the competition that can play well with a team playing rubbish around him - and that guy may well be the best halfback ever.

Johnson's had a very good season - to say otherwise is to misunderstand his role, or completely over-exaggerate your judgement of him based one or two games, rather than an entire season.

He's certainly not the reason we didn't make finals this year.

Don't fully agree with that, plenty can show something when their pack isn't going well, maybe not excel and dominate a match, but still put out a decent performance

Leuluai has outperformed him for the last month behind the same pack

I think he has had a good season at best, couldn't class it as very good. Correct he isn't the only reason you didn't make the finals this season, but you're paid the big money and the team is in finals contention you need to produce

I'm not basing my opinion of him on 1-2 games, but on 4-5 seasons. Pattern is always the same as the teams really, starts poor, excels through origin and when the comp cranks up, he drops off

There must be some way to crack the code with him, as a work mate said, imagine what he could be under a Bellamy, Bennett or Hasler

 

[jaseg]

How many tries does he have to set up or score behind a broken pack before he gets a pass mark?

How many repeat sets does he have to force?

I believe he's sitting somewhere in the top three this year for dropouts forced. In terms of tries, linebreaks & assists per time on the field he's the best half this year... and by a long, long way - and that's including his relatively dry spell over the last three games (when we've been humped up and down the central corridor for most of each game). Try assists alone he's set up just under a try a game - there's only one half that usually does better.

As for the big money; Matulino is paid it too mate.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

How many tries does he have to set up or score behind a broken pack before he gets a pass mark?

How many repeat sets does he have to force?

I believe he's sitting somewhere in the top three this year for dropouts forced. In terms of tries, linebreaks & assists per time on the field he's the best half this year... and by a long, long way - and that's including his relatively dry spell over the last three games (when we've been humped up and down the central corridor for most of each game). Try assists alone he's set up just under a try a game - there's only one half that usually does better.

As for the big money; Matulino is paid it too mate.

Fair points again, and he did have a few extremely good weeks with the kicking game getting dropouts etc. But as is often said, stats are like miniskirts, what they show is great, but what they hide is vital

My point is more though, when the big games rolled around at the end of the year, where has his game gone ? General game management as well at times is an area he lets himself down, wrong options at wrong times, eg the golden point game v us, getting tackled on the 2nd last play

 

[Benek]

Yeah SJ is an enigma for sure. I still think with a good coach and a team of hardworking players in front of him he has potential to the best half in the comp once JT retires. He's never been in the environment to really shine.

Looks at other halves like Hodkinson. The guys was (unbelievably) an origin player when he was behind that powerful doggies pack. Now he's on a shit team and he's terrible. SJ has been on one of the most inconsistent teams in the last 5 years, it's not that surprising that he's not living up to potential. Very few halves perform well on poor teams.

 

[ozbash]

SJ has been on one of the most inconsistent teams in the last 5 years,

thats right, and for those 5 years he's been unable to play his natural game..

 

[vvvrulz]

I'm one of the biggest Princess critics, when he goes missing, he goes missing and it's shockingly bad.

But that said he hasn't been the problem this year, he's delivered numerous clutch plays and when we actually have go-forward he's shown glimpses of a quality controlling half's game. Luke stepping up and supporting him did absolute wonders, help from the spine has been missing since 2011. If we field 17 guys who actually give a shit and a proper #6 next to him, he'd be one of the leading halves in the comp.

 

[VillaTheGorilla]

A bit unfair in my opinion. I think two big points that need to be made is that Shaun's still injured, and as a few have said, he's been playing behind a pack that's getting beaten most weeks. When the pack gets that go forward, he's usually been pretty good. And with the injury, you can see that he's trying. He's running hard but just hasn't been able to find that top gear, which means a lot of those moments where he's able to create something from nothing gets lost.
Despite this, I still think he's doing well - yesterday that try that was disallowed....I was waiting for him to get tackled cos he just wasn't able to put on those afterburners. He still got there though, despite that. Also, a huge positive about his injury has meant that he's had to develop other areas of his game and not rely on his pace and evaisivness. His short kicking has been great this year and as a few have said, leads the competition or is top of the pile in a number of stats.
I feel like in the last three weeks he's tried to force the situation and has come up with some poor plays. He's certainly been trying, but I don't know if its the pressure or something else but he's executed poorly a number of times in the last 3 weeks. I don't think you can question his commitment though.

Again as some have said, he's not the reason we're not playing the finals. The team was absolute sh*thouse for the first half of the year and you can't just turn up for half a year. Looking back theres probably 3 or 4 key games (yesterday included) that we should have won. If we had the intensity we had for the Titans/Broncos/Cronulla games for the WHOLE year we'd be sitting pretty in about 4th spot.

Shoulda, woulda , coulda

 

[Iafeta]

So... we have a halfback who plays behind a pack who is both small and timid, and lack any real creativity. And yet he's still 5th for try assists, 1st for line break assists, just out of the top 5 for line breaks, 1st for repeat sets, despite playing on one leg.

Maybe if the other 15 around him (I exclude Mannering because week in week out that guy is on) produced to a similar standard we wouldn't be having threads like these pop up. Maybe if Lillyman and Matulino played like forward leaders rather than pea hearts, perhaps then we'd be celebrating success, and be quite happy with Shaun's performances. Agree, he had a slow start to the year coming off the back of a horrific injury, but Shaun is not the Warriors, much the same way as JT is not the Cowboys. JT struggled for a number of years up there with a terrible pack of plodders around him, Shaun is surrounded by mediocrity yet his numbers are still very polished.

 

[VillaTheGorilla]

So... we have a halfback who plays behind a pack who is both small and timid, and lack any real creativity. And yet he's still 5th for try assists, 1st for line break assists, just out of the top 5 for line breaks, 1st for repeat sets, despite playing on one leg.

Maybe if the other 15 around him (I exclude Mannering because week in week out that guy is on) produced to a similar standard we wouldn't be having threads like these pop up. Maybe if Lillyman and Matulino played like forward leaders rather than pea hearts, perhaps then we'd be celebrating success, and be quite happy with Shaun's performances. Agree, he had a slow start to the year coming off the back of a horrific injury, but Shaun is not the Warriors, much the same way as JT is not the Cowboys. JT struggled for a number of years up there with a terrible pack of plodders around him, Shaun is surrounded by mediocrity yet his numbers are still very polished.

Agree completely. If he gets selected for Kiwis (only reason he wouldn't would be injury) we'll see again how he goes behind a pack with the likes of Bromwhich, JWH, Taupau and other big boppers who can get him some great go forward

 

[ozenzud]

Glad a lot of guys have jumped in to defend Johnson. I reckon he has grown a lot this year.

I also get the sense our team has grown a lot too. Remember how bad they were last year. They are a lot better than that. But we definitely need a bigger prop or two

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

Watch him play for the Kiwis - a team doing they're job.
Watch him play for the Warriors - a team that doesn't alot of the time.
See the difference?

I feel bad for SJ because when we do well, its usually on the back of his freakish talent.
When we don't win, he's the first one the general public turn to, expecting that magic all the time.

Johnson isn't the problem here

 

[Meth]

Totally agree with you, Johnson in my mind is simply not up to being an NRL half.

That's a compliment