Delisted #36: Lachlan Johnson - Not offered another contract - 13/8

36 - Lachlan Johnson.jpg


Contract Status: Out of contract 2021
Last Game Played: n/a
Injury Status: n/a
 
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Building up to a full VFL game over the next 3-4 weeks
“Lachlan Johnson was a feel-good story out of the weekend, playing some minutes against Richmond in the VFL practice game. That was really valuable,” he said.

“He had his first little hitout for the club since he’s come here, coming off that ACL and having a few little interruptions post that. COVID wasn’t ideal for him, but he’s certainly attacked his pre-season and now he’ll increase his minutes against Box Hill this weekend to then play full game time over the next three to four weeks.”
 
Lachlan Johnson
“It was great for Lachie. He got 60 minutes this week after having 40 last week. He played as a forward and laid a couple of big tackles, which showed his intent to defend for us. It was an improvement from last week.”

 
"It was Lachie's third game back. His forward pressure set up a couple of goals. Defensively he's been very good, but we just want him to get a bit more of the ball and get himself in positions where he can really impact the scoreboard."

 
Playing on-ball!
“He pretty much played as a forward but we threw him on ball for five or six minutes every quarter and he looked really good in there. He won his own ball and if he didn’t win it, he was the first player to tackle, so it was a really good inside game when he played on ball. It was pleasing to see.”
 
Moved to the midfield again and was impressive

Lachlan Johnson
Stats: 14 disposals, eight tackles, four marks

“Lachie was OK early. He probably didn’t take his opportunities as a forward but at half-time when we needed to mix things up a little bit, we put him into the midfield and he did a very good job. He had seven tackles, won a few clearances and competed really hard. A bit like Ned, his second half was pretty impressive as a midfielder.”
 
He’s always been a tackling machine and has genuine intent and technique.

Hopefully his next month or so puts to bed any notion that we drafted him as some kind of intricate goof or gag selection
 
Did not find a lot of the footy yesterday but what he showed to me is he can do a bit of blocking at the center bounce and his positioning at stoppages was okay. He obviously lacks the tank to be effective through the middle right now but I think he has some raw tools that will make it interesting to see how far he can progress in the middle. Unlike a few others he has the body strength.
 
May 6, 2007
39,095
22,784
South East Suburbs
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Tottenham Hotspurs, Melbourne Vixen
Did not find a lot of the footy yesterday but what he showed to me is he can do a bit of blocking at the center bounce and his positioning at stoppages was okay. He obviously lacks the tank to be effective through the middle right now but I think he has some raw tools that will make it interesting to see how far he can progress in the middle. Unlike a few others he has the body strength.

Without being at the game and the poor camerawork, wondered why he was persisted with in the midfield group.


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BrunoV

Brownlow Medallist
May 5, 2009
21,620
28,989
AFL Club
Essendon
Without being at the game and the poor camerawork, wondered why he was persisted with in the midfield group.


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I am struggling to describe in words the level of irony I am struck by when I think that Johnson will get a year of unimpeded, unrestricted midfield time.

Kavanagh moved to a wing. Laverde too "unfit", Ridley 4 quarters on a wing for "development", Redman a couple of quarters here and there, Begley never got look inside at AFL level, Hibberd ended up playing wing in scratch matches last year.

And yet here were are, Johnson and Cahill playing on ball in the 2s because there is no one else.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words. Well the level of irony as I think of this is best summed up as follows

 
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Got a case of the fumbles but good around the contest and ran hard, put himself in the right positions.
Lachlan Johnson
Stats: 11 disposals, one mark, seven tackles

“Lachie played midfield again. He was good in around the contest and he put himself in the right positions. He fumbled a little bit and could have been a little bit cleaner, but again got through another game of hard running. It was good to see him in the middle again.”
 
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