Johnson let down team-mates
Shaun Johnson’s ego couldn’t handle taking on the challenge of playing for his future at the Warriors next season.
Last week will go down as a turning point for a club still waiting to win its first premiership.
It was one where Johnson showed he was no longer willing to play for the club, even though he would earn over $1 million next season, preferring instead to go to the Sharks, with whom he signed a three-year deal yesterday.
But it was also the defining moment in Cameron George’s tenure as the club’s CEO.
Throughout Johnson’s time at the Warriors he was held up as the club’s poster boy, with the talent to bring the club success.
As his star rose, his value increased, but the performances remained erratic. One week he’d score an incredible try, the next you’d hardly notice him.
The beginning of the problem that led to Johnson asking for a release wasn’t a few weeks ago when news came out that the club didn’t want to offer him a new contract yet.
It goes back to April, 2017, when Johnson signed a two-year deal for $1.1m a season.
His contract was up at the end of that year and he advised the club he wanted to test the market. He had already indicated to the club he wasn’t sure if the Warriors was the right club for him.
Johnson is, of course, entitled to do that and the Warriors waited for him, but then decided to pay him $1.1m a season, making him the highest player in the club’s history.
Remember, this was a halfback for a team that hadn’t make the finals since 2011. It’s hard to imagine the Storm keeping Cooper Cronk on over $1m a season if they had gone six years without making the finals.
The money paid to Johnson caused an imbalance in the Warriors’ playing roster as he was taking up 10 per cent of the salary cap and there was a lack of depth in other positions because of it.
Warriors management knew they had to reset the cap and they had one player who was on too much. paid
The club never intended for Johnson to not be there in 2019. They wouldn’t have given Mason Lino an early release to go to the Knights if they had and they hadn’t drawn a line through not offering Johnson a contract beyond next season.
But was it a smart move to offer him that big contract now? By 2020 Johnson will be 30 and it would have been a risk offering similar money to what he was on, this far out, especially when he’s continually struggled for consistency.
However the Warriors handled this, it was never going to end well.
George had to decide whether they should continue paying an erratic player such a large proportion of the cap, when the current model clearly hadn’t worked, with fans and sponsors crying out for – and deserving – success.
He was never going to win a popularity contest with Johnson, but needed to put the club in a better position to win a premiership, which meant not tying up so much money in Johnson.
But on the back of that, Johnson felt he was unloved, because it wasn’t their priority to re-sign him. So while it was OK for Johnson to test the market when it suited him, he wasn’t happy when the club did likewise.
So Johnson asked for a release last week and was granted one.
When George started, in his first interview with Stuff he stated there would be no excuses at the club any more and everyone would be held accountable.
Last week showed that he’s carrying through with that, whether it’s Johnson or James Gavet, who was firstly stood down, then shown the door for being late to training.
Johnson wasn’t up for the challenge and it has sent out a poor message to the rest of his team-mates.
Johnson could have chosen to remain with the Warriors for next year and still be the club’s highest paid player.
But instead he’s left the Warriors in the lurch and thrown his old team-mates under the bus.
Players aren’t stupid, they know how hard it will be to find a suitable replacement and how his actions may have damaged the team’s chances of winning the premiership next year.
The past week is reminiscent of how Wally Lewis was sacked as Broncos captain by Wayne Bennett in 1989 and then moved on the next year.
Bennett knew he had to make that unpopular call for the club’s long-term success and he was right.
There’s a statue of Lewis outside Suncorp Stadium these days. Will there ever be one of Johnson at Mt Smart Stadium?