Shaun the shark
Jovial Johnson enjoys circling under the radar at Cronulla
Shaun Johnson is in a happy place. The New Zealand five-eighth, who will be a key figure against Tonga today, has a spring in his step, and not just from the energy and camaraderie of being back in the Kiwis.
It’s a contrast to the last time he was seen in Auckland, last December, as the messy split with the Warriors played out, and with good reason.
The move to Cronulla has started well, despite injury frustrations, and the 28-year-old appears to have a weight lifted from his shoulders.
It’s understandable, as Johnson has gone from being arguably the face of the Warriors (and the sport) in this country, to just another name in the Sydney league metropolis.
“I never saw it at the time but definitely being taken out of that environment, I feel a load has been taken off,” Johnson told the Weekend Herald .“I don’t have people peppering me and scrutinising me every week.
“There will always be pressure from myself but that is the only pressure I feel, which is really refreshing. There were times when that outside noise was so much, so much coming down, you did feel it. You were made aware of it.
“I’d talk to Kayla [Cullen] about it, just us two at home, and I haven’t had to have that conversation with her since I’ve been in Sydney. I’m not sure, that might change, but that’s the difference for me.”
It’s also helped Johnson couldn’t have landed at a more suitable club, apart from perhaps the Storm. Cronulla are one of the smaller clubs in Sydney and tend to be quiet achievers.
“The first thing they made me feel when I walked in there was that you are a cog in this big machine,” said Johnson. “This all isn’t on you, bro. I guess they can do that, because they have been successful. I’m not going in there to try to reinvent the wheel for them, I’m going in there to add what I can do to what they have.”
When asked the differences between playing for the Sharks and Warriors, Johnson lists pressure, commitment and expectation.
“The pressure here. It’s all I knew so I didn’t view it as pressure but having that scrutiny on you every week,” says Johnson. “One week, the Warriors win, and everything’s terrific, and another week, they don’t, and people are saying ‘I can’t take this any more’. There’s not that at the Sharks. They’re playing good footy and can fly under the radar a bit, outside that real bubble in Sydney.”
By commitment, Johnson refers to the amount of appearances, promotions and club-related activities outside the football sphere.
“The volume of stuff we had to do off the field here was all I knew,” said Johnson. “At the Sharks, it’s half that.”
Johnson enjoys the lifestyle, seeing parallels with the beach life he knew growing up.
Netball star Cullen has recently moved across the Tasman and his pet dog will be released from quarantine next week to join them in their house “across the road” from the club.
Johnson’s absence at the Warriors still casts a shadow. Their attack has
lacked potency this year and they have also missed his game management skills at times. His exit was acrimonious but it’s not something he dwells on.
“I don’t need to talk about what happened eight months ago now. It happened. There’s no point in talking about how it made me feel or why it happened. It’s done now. They’ve moved on. I’ve moved on.
“I still watch every Warriors game. I still talk to the players. I’m still invested in how they do. I want them to do well. Regardless of how it made me feel, that’s where I’m at now.
“[But I’ve] definitely moved on. [There’s] no point in holding any kind of grudge or ill feeling towards anyone. I play rugby league for a job. When people say it isn’t a job — well, it is. I got moved on.”
Nevertheless, this week is a novel feeling for Johnson, coming into the Kiwis team as just another Australianbased player, rather than being weighed down by a tough Warriors campaign.
“Every time I’ve come into this environment, there’s always been someone who’s said ‘he doesn’t deserve to be here’, or ‘he’s not playing good enough football’. That’s not new to me and whether I think it’s warranted, that’s irrelevant. I know when I come into this group, I’m a better player for it. There have been games where I haven’t been happy how I’ve played, but other times, some of the best games of my career have been played in this jersey.”
That was the case in 2014-15, when Johnson was in the form of his life, an incandescent spark behind a dominant forward pack, and he was also impressive in last year’s win over Australia at Mt Smart Stadium.
He will be reunited with Benji Marshall today, seven years after they last played together during Johnson’s international debut in 2012.
“I remember him pulling me aside early in that week,” says Johnson. “I was fizzing, thinking, ‘I get to play alongside Benji’. He said, ‘Bro, calm down. If you want the ball, you call the ball. Don’t feel like I’m overriding you or anything. You play your game’. He made me feel like I deserved to be there, made me feel really equal. That’s something I will never forget.”
Marshall and Johnson were the last to leave the Kiwis’ fan day on Tuesday, signing autographs and taking selfies.
Their combination will be critical today, with the Kiwis holding an obvious edge in experience across the spine against the Pacific nation.
Johnson, who has scored 11 tries in 29 tests, has only 80 minutes of club football behind him — after nursing a hamstring injury since early April — but is focused.
“I want to have a good week, play really good football this weekend, then go back to Cronulla with a spring in my step and string some games together,” said Johnson.
“I’m focused on what I can control, which is repaying the faith Cronulla showed to get me there.”