Johnson’s future – retirement or the Warriors
Shaun Johnson had 1.3 million reasons to join Wests Tigers from next year, but confirmed yesterday that it’s Warriors or retirement for him next season.
The 32-year-old halfback has broken his media silence to openly discuss his playing future and while he says he still doesn’t know what it is yet, he has narrowed it down to two options and the both involve him remaining in New Zealand.
The Warriors have indicated they want to keep him next year, but it looks like everyone’s going to have to wait a bit longer to find out what will happen, possibly until after the season has finished.
‘‘I’m not writing anything off, but that decision is yet to be made,’’ Johnson said.
‘‘At the moment, it’s [about] controlling what I can and that’s how I approach this weekend and how I perform this weekend [against the Dolphins].
‘‘I could have gone somewhere else,’’ Johnson added, referring to the offer of $650,000 a season for two years from the Tigers.
‘‘If I do play, I want it to be here and I probably made that clear with my answer to a club [Tigers] coming out a couple of weeks ago.
‘‘I don’t want to go somewhere for the wrong reasons and I felt like if I was to leave again, it would be, it wouldn’t be right.
‘‘I don’t want to go elsewhere and try to win, I want to win here and that’s simply what it came down to.’’
It could have been tempting to pick up another $1.3m before hanging up the boots.
‘‘I was having some chats with my family and they were telling me I was stupid,’’ Johnson laughed.
‘‘The money is nice and it is flattering to have a club come out and show you how badly they want you and that they believe in you.
‘‘But people don’t believe us when we say that’s not what it’s all about. With where I’m at, if I’m going to do this and put my body through another preseason, it has to be to win and I believe the Warriors are in a position to win.’’
It has been speculated that Johnson will move into a career in the media once he stops playing and he’s certainly got the charisma and personality to do well in that field. But he said if he does retire at the end of this season, he would like to keep a connection with the Warriors, hinting he could have some sort of coaching role.
‘‘ I’ve got a few things that interest me,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t want to be a person that wakes up at 5am and goes to work from nine to five.
‘‘I want to have a few different things. Certainly giving back to kids, educating some of our younger players that are going to be at this club – helping develop future halfbacks, fullbacks, spine players in particular.
‘‘That’s what I’m passionate about, whether I can monetise that somehow, we’ll see.
‘‘Then there is the media stuff. I feel like I can help control the narrative on how we talk about players and how we view certain players’ style of play and the decisions they make on the field.’’