Fairytale Finish For Skilful Johnson

The Sunday Age

Sunday September 30, 2007

Martin Blake

Once a sinner, Steve Johnson is now a Geelong saint, Martin Blake writes.

THIS was a season of fairytales and within Geelong's romantic story, there were dozens of sub-plots. Steve Johnson's was the most uplifting of them.

Johnson serves as the most potent symbol of Geelong's rise to the premiership in 2007. He won the Norm Smith Medal yesterday by dint of a sometimes brilliant, sometimes clinically efficient game, kicking four goals and handing off a few others. This, 12 months after the Cats offered him up at trade talks and little more than six months after the club's leadership group told him to go and find somewhere else to carry on his business after he was locked up for drunkenness.

Nobody in Geelong colours had come from further out of the picture. Yet such is the range of his footballing talent, no one was especially surprised. "Someone asked me before the game, 'Who's your favourite player?' " said Gareth Andrews, the former Cat and now vice-president. "I said, 'Stevey Johnson.' He's a country kid who just acts like a country kid sometimes. Somehow I think he realised that he had real talent. The way we handled it, and the way he handled it was fantastic. It's not easy when you're like him to turn around, face the truth."

The 24-year-old Johnson was "on" from the start at the MCG yesterday, hit up by Cameron Mooney on the lead for his first goal at the 11-minute mark. In this, the pivotal period of the game when Geelong established its ownership, he was everywhere, gathering a second goal late in the quarter and another on the run early in the second term. Only once, in the first quarter, did he deviate from the Geelong ethos of team-first.

Caught out on the flank, he tried a banana-kick at goal that missed, leaving a disenchanted Mooney wide open and in a better position. Instructively, Johnson squared the ball all day after that. "I knew when I kicked that I should have given it to Cam Mooney. You just have to make decisions when they confront you. At half-time, a couple of blokes said, 'Take the easy options'. After that, it's what I tried to do."

A big grab at full-forward in the final quarter and a fourth goal rounded out his day. He and fellow half-forward Paul Chapman, along with full-back Matthew Scarlett, jousted for the medal long after the game had expired as a contest, although Johnson said it scarcely mattered. Holding up his premiership medal, he said: "I was just worried about getting the big one. That's all that matters. At the start of the day we said it's not about individuals, it's about playing as a team."

The story of Johnson's ousting from the club by his teammates has been told ad nauseum, but upon reflection, coach Mark Thompson said the first part of the equation was easy enough. "It's easy for the leadership group to hand out a punishment," said Thompson. "The hardest part was what Steve had to do. Steve explained how hard it was. It would have been enormously difficult, lonely and hard to get through."

Johnson, who went and trained alone and with local teams, was not even allowed to socialise with other Geelong players during his exile. He spent most of his spare time playing pool, stopped drinking, and lost weight. "I didn't have any choice, really. It was either change and be a more professional person around the club and a more professional footballer, or 'you're out the door' . . . I really wanted to succeed in footy and that's what drove me."

Not for a moment did he consider quitting. "I couldn't think about giving up footy. I've wanted to experience these sorts of feelings since I was a young kid. I've always come down and watched AFL games, I've never had a footy out of my hands. So this was always my dream. I suppose it was a good kick up the butt."

Up near the dais after the grand final, they called out Johnson's name on the public address. Water bottles rained upon him as he walked up, slightly embarrassed but not surprised, since he had been told by an official moments before that he had the vote.

"He's basically become responsible for his own life," said Brian Cook, Geelong's chief executive. "He makes decisions, he's made some hard ones and he's hung in there. He's stayed with it. He's a symbol for the club the way he's turned it around."

Said teammate Joel Corey: "It's a great story. We told Stevey how it was. The character of the bloke to go away and train by himself, come back, and now he's an all-Australian, he's a premiership player and a Norm Smith medallist. I don't know if you'd ever get a better story than that."

Johnson was headed off for a couple of drinks, and well-earned ones. "I suppose you don't really think you're going to get to this stage. I knew if I worked my butt off I could get back, I could get the respect of the players. I always knew this group was good enough to be a premiership side with the personnel we've got. But you never dream of playing in a grand final and winning a premiership when you're at where I was at. I was pretty much out the door. Things have turned around and I wasn't thinking this far ahead. It's just a fairytale."

NORM SMITH MEDAL VOTES

DANNY FRAWLEY (Triple M)

3. S. Johnson (Geel)

2. M. Scarlett (Geel)

1. P. Chapman (Geel)

DARYL TIMMS (Herald Sun)

3. S. Johnson

2. M. Scarlett

1. P. Chapman

STEVE BUTLER (The West Australian)

3. S. Johnson

2. P. Chapman

1. M. Scarlett

JAKE NIALL (The Age)

3. P. Chapman

2. S. Johnson

1. M. Scarlett

JOSH FRANCOU (5AA)

3. P. Chapman

2. S. Johnson

1. M. Scarlett

TOTALS

Johnson 13

Chapman 10

Scarlett 7

© 2007 The Sunday Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home