Alex Johnson to play his first game in 2136 days

Remove this Banner Ad

red+black said:
sure about these numbers? The 11th longest is 8y 82d, are you saying that Alex is 12th with 5y 309d, there's no one in between?

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/alltime/misc_players.html#18

I think this is a job for Ron The Bear :)
Click to expand...

I mean i'm unsure on that website based purely on the category above; "Played for premiership winning team at any time during the season". Appears to be missing a bunch of hawthorn players from the 80's as well as some current Hawthorn players too. Martin Pyke won 4 flags and isn't on there either?
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Hirsty23 said:
I mean i'm unsure on that website based purely on the category above; "Played for premiership winning team at any time during the season". Appears to be missing a bunch of hawthorn players from the 80's as well as some current Hawthorn players too. Martin Pyke won 4 flags and isn't on there either?
Click to expand...
look further down - Longest Period Between Games

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/alltime/misc_players.html#18

Regarding Hawthorn players, Martin Pike, etc, clearly the owner of the site, *Paul* has set the cut-off at 6. If it extended to 5 or 4, then you would see the players you're thinking of.
 
sainter3and7 said:
Bravo, champ. Good luck to you.
Click to expand...
Imagine being Alex Johnson.

Heading to training in the middle of winter on a cold dark night to train. Arriving at some muddy bog on a wet Saturday morning to play. Working harder than everyone else for the opportunity to make it to the big time. The opportunity to forge a career, to become someone, to earn a living to support a wife and maybe one day a family.

All the hard work pays off as a tear rolls down your cheek at the sound of hearing your name called out at the National Draft. You briefly doubt yourself as you wave goodbye to your friends, your parents and your home state. You take your seat on the plane to Sydney and you ponder if this sudden change in lifestyle is too much for a young man to overcome.

You never forget how hard you worked to get here and you utilise this work ethic to finally break into the senior side and achieve something that most aspirational football players never get to; that is, to play a game of AFL. Life's good. You're making good bank, you're playing good football and you're slaying heaps of gash and partying hard with Dan Hannebery and Rhyce Shaw.

Things are only going to get better next year and you manage to hoist up the holy grail of football - the premiership cup. You're still a teenager, yet you've already won it all. It's hard to believe that things could get better. How good is this? I could ride this wave of euphoria and jubilation for the rest of my life.

But you don't.

Your knees start exploding left, right and centre. A year goes down the drain. And another one. It's been hundreds of days since you last stepped foot on a football field. The tarts at the nightclubs you were putting away a few years ago don't even remember you are. Tom Derickx forgets your name. Jarrad McVeigh keeps confusing you for Paul Bevan. Michael Talia doesn't invite you to his birthday party.

After years of crying yourself to sleep and after enduring setback after setback, you can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Your knees are holding strong and you've managed to string together a couple of solid games in the seconds. You don't expect a call-up this year because, after all, the ones are doing okay as it is. Despite your lowly and conservative expectations, your phone starts ringing and you look down to see who it is. To your surprise, it's John Longmire. Not expecting anything, you ask what the big man wants. What he says next shocks you to the core. Horse says that you're going to be playing this weekend - in the AFL. Stunned, a tear rolls down your cheek. The same tear that rolled down your cheek when you got drafted. The same tear that rolled down your cheek when you got hold the premiership cup. It meant that all this hard work was not in vain and was in fact, all worth it in the end. The last 2,136 days of pain were a distant memory and a blip in time. All your friends and family and team-mates ring you up and drop by your house to congratulate you and you feel like you're back on top of the world.

You wonder if all this happiness extends to the footballing community in large, so you type your name into google. Instantly, a plethora of news articles pop-up and they all laud you for your courage and perseverance. Your smile grows evermore and you decide to head to the last bastion of unfiltered and unfettered footballing discussion - BigFooty. On the main board, you notice a thread entitled 'Alex Johnson to play his first game in 2136 days'. You click on it and to your delight, you see post after post of complimentary praise and excitement.

That is, until your reach post #17. After all the knee reconstructions and arduous rehabilitation, you think you can handle anything that comes your way.

You were wrong.

You've just been champed by a St Kilda supporter on an internet forum.

You close your laptop, rest your head down on your pillow and cry yourself to sleep as you did so many times before. This was the final straw.
 
Godchin said:
Imagine being Alex Johnson.

Heading to training in the middle of winter on a cold dark night to train. Arriving at some muddy bog on a wet Saturday morning to play. Working harder than everyone else for the opportunity to make it to the big time. The opportunity to forge a career, to become someone, to earn a living to support a wife and maybe one day a family.

All the hard work pays off as a tear rolls down your cheek at the sound of hearing your name called out at the National Draft. You briefly doubt yourself as you wave goodbye to your friends, your parents and your home state. You take your seat on the plane to Sydney and you ponder if this sudden change in lifestyle is too much for a young man to overcome.

You never forget how hard you worked to get here and you utilise this work ethic to finally break into the senior side and achieve something that most aspirational football players never get to; that is, to play a game of AFL. Life's good. You're making good bank, you're playing good football and you're slaying heaps of gash and partying hard with Dan Hannebery and Rhyce Shaw.

Things are only going to get better next year and you manage to hoist up the holy grail of football - the premiership cup. You're still a teenager, yet you've already won it all. It's hard to believe that things could get better. How good is this? I could ride this wave of euphoria and jubilation for the rest of my life.

But you don't.

Your knees start exploding left, right and centre. A year goes down the drain. And another one. It's been hundreds of days since you last stepped foot on a football field. The tarts at the nightclubs you were putting away a few years ago don't even remember you are. Tom Derickx forgets your name. Jarrad McVeigh keeps confusing you for Paul Bevan. Michael Talia doesn't invite you to his birthday party.

After years of crying yourself to sleep and after enduring setback after setback, you can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Your knees are holding strong and you've managed to string together a couple of solid games in the seconds. You don't expect a call-up this year because, after all, the ones are doing okay as it is. Despite your lowly and conservative expectations, your phone starts ringing and you look down to see who it is. To your surprise, it's John Longmire. Not expecting anything, you ask what the big man wants. What he says next shocks you to the core. Horse says that you're going to be playing this weekend - in the AFL. Stunned, a tear rolls down your cheek. The same tear that rolled down your cheek when you got drafted. The same tear that rolled down your cheek when you got hold the premiership cup. It meant that all this hard work was not in vain and was in fact, all worth it in the end. The last 2,136 days of pain were a distant memory and a blip in time. All your friends and family and team-mates ring you up and drop by your house to congratulate you and you feel like you're back on top of the world.

You wonder if all this happiness extends to the footballing community in large, so you type your name into google. Instantly, a plethora of news articles pop-up and they all laud you for your courage and perseverance. Your smile grows evermore and you decide to head to the last bastion of unfiltered and unfettered footballing discussion - BigFooty. On the main board, you notice a thread entitled 'Alex Johnson to play his first game in 2136 days'. You click on it and to your delight, you see post after post of complimentary praise and excitement.

That is, until your reach post #17. After all the knee reconstructions and arduous rehabilitation, you think you can handle anything that comes your way.

You were wrong.

You've just been champed by a St Kilda supporter on an internet forum.

You close your laptop, rest your head down on your pillow and cry yourself to sleep as you did so many times before. This was the final straw.
Click to expand...
Hah! Bloody brilliant!
 
Hirsty23 said:
I mean i'm unsure on that website based purely on the category above; "Played for premiership winning team at any time during the season". Appears to be missing a bunch of hawthorn players from the 80's as well as some current Hawthorn players too. Martin Pyke won 4 flags and isn't on there either?
Click to expand...

4 is less than 6, which is the lowest on there - it doesn't show them all. The right column is current players only...
 
There is like so many minutes in 2000+ days, maybe more than we will ever know. And it all boils down to hopefully 65-75% of game time, which would be like 55mins of game time.

Imagine that.
 
Godchin said:
Imagine being Alex Johnson.

Heading to training in the middle of winter on a cold dark night to train. Arriving at some muddy bog on a wet Saturday morning to play. Working harder than everyone else for the opportunity to make it to the big time. The opportunity to forge a career, to become someone, to earn a living to support a wife and maybe one day a family.

All the hard work pays off as a tear rolls down your cheek at the sound of hearing your name called out at the National Draft. You briefly doubt yourself as you wave goodbye to your friends, your parents and your home state. You take your seat on the plane to Sydney and you ponder if this sudden change in lifestyle is too much for a young man to overcome.

You never forget how hard you worked to get here and you utilise this work ethic to finally break into the senior side and achieve something that most aspirational football players never get to; that is, to play a game of AFL. Life's good. You're making good bank, you're playing good football and you're slaying heaps of gash and partying hard with Dan Hannebery and Rhyce Shaw.

Things are only going to get better next year and you manage to hoist up the holy grail of football - the premiership cup. You're still a teenager, yet you've already won it all. It's hard to believe that things could get better. How good is this? I could ride this wave of euphoria and jubilation for the rest of my life.

But you don't.

Your knees start exploding left, right and centre. A year goes down the drain. And another one. It's been hundreds of days since you last stepped foot on a football field. The tarts at the nightclubs you were putting away a few years ago don't even remember you are. Tom Derickx forgets your name. Jarrad McVeigh keeps confusing you for Paul Bevan. Michael Talia doesn't invite you to his birthday party.

After years of crying yourself to sleep and after enduring setback after setback, you can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Your knees are holding strong and you've managed to string together a couple of solid games in the seconds. You don't expect a call-up this year because, after all, the ones are doing okay as it is. Despite your lowly and conservative expectations, your phone starts ringing and you look down to see who it is. To your surprise, it's John Longmire. Not expecting anything, you ask what the big man wants. What he says next shocks you to the core. Horse says that you're going to be playing this weekend - in the AFL. Stunned, a tear rolls down your cheek. The same tear that rolled down your cheek when you got drafted. The same tear that rolled down your cheek when you got hold the premiership cup. It meant that all this hard work was not in vain and was in fact, all worth it in the end. The last 2,136 days of pain were a distant memory and a blip in time. All your friends and family and team-mates ring you up and drop by your house to congratulate you and you feel like you're back on top of the world.

You wonder if all this happiness extends to the footballing community in large, so you type your name into google. Instantly, a plethora of news articles pop-up and they all laud you for your courage and perseverance. Your smile grows evermore and you decide to head to the last bastion of unfiltered and unfettered footballing discussion - BigFooty. On the main board, you notice a thread entitled 'Alex Johnson to play his first game in 2136 days'. You click on it and to your delight, you see post after post of complimentary praise and excitement.

That is, until your reach post #17. After all the knee reconstructions and arduous rehabilitation, you think you can handle anything that comes your way.

You were wrong.

You've just been champed by a St Kilda supporter on an internet forum.

You close your laptop, rest your head down on your pillow and cry yourself to sleep as you did so many times before. This was the final straw.
Click to expand...
Jesus Christ, he didnt have cancer! Some perspective please.A trying time for him no doubt, and congratualtions and I hope he goes well...but holy hell.
 
mr bagcroft said:
Jesus Christ, he didnt have cancer! Some perspective please.A trying time for him no doubt, and congratualtions and I hope he goes well...but holy hell.
Click to expand...

I am sure your a troll, but oh well I will bite.

Imagine training for something your entire life, something you are not only good at but something you are very passionate about and likely makes up who you are.

Not only do you make it as a professional but you manage to make it to the pinnacle of what it is you want to achieve.

Only then it is taken away from you, for nearly 6 years, on top of this you go through approximately 15 different operations and are pretty much isolated to a rehab room whenever you are at the club.

This would be more difficult mentally to put up with than nearly anything you could imagine.

In face it would be nearly as difficult to mentally process as your ability to recognise that a post is obviously written in sarcasm and humour.
 
good on him.

But leaves a very exclusive club of "last AFL match a wining Grand Final."

Anyone care to start that list?

Crawford
Ling
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

99cents said:
good on him.

But leaves a very exclusive club of "last AFL match a wining Grand Final."

Anyone care to start that list?
Click to expand...
Brian Lake, David Hale, Cameron Ling, Brad Ottens, Shane Crawford, Trent Croad, Drew Banfield, Jason Ball, Damien Hardwick, Marcus Ashcroft, Darren Bewick, Ian Fairley, Michael Tuck, ...
 
Wow that's pretty insane. Always kinda felt like Sydney were desperate for a guy like that post 2012, completely forgot about him to be honest with you but I I can see why they stuck with him.
 
red+black said:
Brian Lake, David Hale, Cameron Ling, Brad Ottens, Shane Crawford, Trent Croad, Drew Banfield, Jason Ball, Damien Hardwick, Marcus Ashcroft, Darren Bewick, Ian Fairley, Michael Tuck, ...
Click to expand...
Wonder how many players went out on a losing GF? Mr Ron The Bear, got the number handy perchance?
 
mr bagcroft said:
Jesus Christ, he didnt have cancer! Some perspective please.A trying time for him no doubt, and congratualtions and I hope he goes well...but holy hell.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much what AJ said in his half time interview with Jude Bolton. Along the lines of "I've always tried to keep perspective. I could still walk around, plenty of others worse off and I got to come in to the club and work with great people, doing stuff that I loved etc."

He sounds like a very well-balanced and resilient individual.
 
red+black said:
Immediate one that comes to mind is Leigh Matthews
Click to expand...

Iirc a few Bombers from 2001 played their last games in a losing granny.
Alistair Lynch is another that immediately comes to mind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Cmarsh
Tom Hawkins 350 games - What is his standing in the game?
11 12 13 14 15
Replies
360
Views
10K
Captain_Bender
Captain_Bender
sobrave
Travis Boak 350 games - what is his standing in the game?
Replies
23
Views
668
Lunchtime
L
Vdubs
FIRST PLAYER PICKED
2 3
Replies
56
Views
2K
Lingsface
Lingsface
PowerfulPies2023
Top 10 coaches in the history of the game?
2 3
Replies
54
Views
3K
Mr.X
Mr.X
Gavin Excell
How many wins do you expect (hope) from your team in the first 4 games
2 3 4 5
Replies
103
Views
3K
Meteoric Rise
Meteoric Rise
F
Coach Sam Mitchell on his players staging for free kicks
2 3 4
Replies
77
Views
2K
Back One Out
Back One Out
G
  • Poll
It is a risk to draft a Tassie player in the first round?
2 3
Replies
54
Views
2K
Jazny
Jazny

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top