From ‘Princess’ to ‘SJ’
Nowadays he’s popular enough to be referred to simply by his initials, but there was a time when Shaun Johnson was more known as ‘Princess’ to his team-mates.
As the clock ticks down to the NRL’S return, the former Warriors star turned Cronulla Shark has opened up on his life on and off the field in a light-hearted interview with Nrl.com.
Quizzed on his nicknames, Johnson said he never asked to be called ‘SJ’ but that was much preferred to the moniker given to him by ex
Kiwis international Krisnan
Inu, which stuck early in his career.
‘‘A lot of people call me ‘SJ’ now. Back in the day it was ‘Princess’,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘Krisnan
Inu used to call me ‘Princess’ in 2011/2012 but that’s died off and that can stay buried.’’
The interview touched on everything from how he likes his coffee [he doesn’t – ‘‘I’m a smoothie person’’] and worst habit [‘‘can’t multi-task’’] to favourite movie [the Bad Boys series) and go-to cheat meal [Mcdonald’s].
He may have also landed himself in hot water with wife, netball star Kayla Johnson (nee Cullen) after choosing one of his dogs to be stranded on a desert island with.
‘‘Man’s best friend bro, honestly, man’s best friend,’’ he said. ‘‘Ella, the older one, is a bit lazy so I’d probably leave her behind but Taco, the little one, he’d just cruise with you, he’s always happy, so I’d take Taco.’’
While there was nothing out of the ordinary with his cheat meal, Johnson shared a ‘‘game-changing’’ hack for those relishing the re-opening of takeaway restaurants now the country has moved into Covid-19 alert level three.
‘‘I go a Big Mac meal, get an extra Mcchicken burger and I get the burgers on steamed buns which is crucial for anyone that orders Macca’s – it’s a game-changer,’’ he said. ‘‘FiletO-fish are on steamed buns and you just look at them and they’re so much softer and more moist.’’
Johnson finished the interview by giving his preference to a series of quick-fire Kiwirelated questions, such aswellington or Wanaka (Wellington), Jelly Tip or hokey pokey ice-cream (hokey pokey) and Sir Richard Hadlee or Kane Williamson (Williamson).
But it was a league question he agonised over most after being asked to chose between childhood idols Stacey Jones and Benji Marshall.
Johnson initially couldn’t split the two New Zealand legends but eventually sided with his international teammate and incumbent Kiwis captainmarshall.
‘‘Stacey was who a lot of us looked up to to start with and he’s the man,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘But what Benji did for all of us around my age was he made us all believe that it was possible to play in the NRL.’’