Toast Chris Johnson

[mickelboy182]

I thought Strijk was one of their better players, but I was still fairly happy with CJ2. May need to tighten up defensively, but that seems to be part and parcel with wearing a Carlton jumper these days

 

[Jezza U Beauty]

When i saw him play at AAMI earlier this year i was impressed with his hardness at the ball and the man. Big improvement on last year.

Given that we're arguably in the bottom 3 in the AFL in terms of footskills, his laser-guided left boot is pretty welcome.

In our best 22 IMO.

 

[rp84]

When i saw him play at AAMI earlier this year i was impressed with his hardness at the ball and the man. Big improvement on last year.

Given that we're arguably in the bottom 3 in the AFL in terms of footskills, his laser-guided left boot is pretty welcome.

In our best 22 IMO.

well said sir.

at the moment, we're bottom 3...when we are in form, top 3. work it out.

 

[Alpha1]

Hopefully he can continue his good form, God knows we need more players with nice skills.

 

[Jeremias]

He was very good in his few games early on in the season and it was disappointing when he got injured and was forced out of the side because he was working his way into some pretty good form.

He came back and did not miss a beat on Saturday night. He's not a brilliant player but very serviceable and seems to have worked on his major deficiencies. His disposal is outstanding but questionable under pressure, and he seems to have fixed that. He was perceived as being soft and unaccountable but has added a hard edge to his game and it is fantastic to see.

I don't think he's in our best 22 when we are all fit and firing but the fact is that we will very rarely have our best 22 out on the park, and that applies to every team in the league. He's a very useful depth player to have and he deserves another contract IMO.

 

[Crippa#9]

Played well but not convinced he is a 'best 22' player yet...

 

[KnaveyBlue]

He has above average footskills - which makes him stand out like a beacon in our side

 

[Blue since 72]

Glad he's back in the side. Thought his game on Saturday was fairly good but I would like to see him in either the middle (laying blocks, feeding it out; has a good body size for this role although Grigg did a good job of this on the weekend) or on a HFF rather than HBF.

Could use his boot going into the F50 and can kick a long way, could also bomb some from 50.

 

[dumb]

turn around from last year... most never thought we'd make a player out of him, but could be starting to prove us wrong. looks meaner with the beard too. great game against PA and very handy sat night too.

 

[Bluebear]

No mention of this?

In our best 5 or so for mine yesterday.

Fantastic game after coming back from injury.

His kicking skills in particular were top notch.

Am I alone here?

Nope.

I thought he looked good, and did so before he got injured.

He is a different player in close. Last year he panicked and sent off a hospital handpass before getting tackled. Now he is taking the hit and not panicking and getting off good handballs.

His field kicking (other than one very bad one vs Doggies) has improved as well. I thought last year he was great when in space but sus under pressure. He looks better in this regard too.

I think he has done enough to get another contract, and I would like to see him play as the defensive HFF, lead up, and use that left hoof to put it inside 50 or kick for goal.

 

[Cool User Name]

He is a different player in close. Last year he panicked and sent off a hospital handpass before getting tackled. Now he is taking the hit and not panicking and getting off good handballs.

Maybe you should watch his first 1/2 against the Weagles again.

 

[Bluebear]

Maybe you should watch his first 1/2 against the Weagles again.

Keh?

You'd rather focus on his first half.......why? Because he hasn't played senior footy in 2 months and was a bit rusty?

Y'know what......I will go back and have a look. Anything in particular you want me to focus on?

 

[BlueSnake]

The only thing I can think of was a slightly errant handball that Lecras intercepted and snapped for a goal. And I think one of his teammates may have been at more fault for not providing enough support anyway.

Besides that little mess up, and let's face it everyone was making them early on, he was good I thought.

 

[Shambolic]

Good on him. At the start of the year he was definitely up against it for being kept in 2011, but you'd have to say if he stays in the team from here he may win himself a new contract.

No doubt he's trying to do things he wasnt famous for. Some of his Judd protection pre-injury was really good, and as we all know we've been crying out for it.

Anyone who can keep themselves in the seniors would be unlucky to be delisted. This is why Thornton should be hitting the ground in anger - at himself - right about now. Bad time of the year, and his career, to be languishing in the 2's.

 

[blues4flag]

Hopefully he can keep this up but I'm doubtful whether he can. At the moment he looks like a player playing for his career and whether he can sustain that and not fall back into old habits is questionable.

 

[PeeKay]

Disagree. If I'm not mistaken, and correct me if I'm wrong, but he was opposed to Strijk for much of the match... who was just about West Coast's best.

Johnson was ok offensively, poor defensively.

From his early games before he was injured he was as HARD at the ball as either McLean and Hadley yet his foot and hand skills are far better than both those players.
For mine he could be that "Judd Protector" instead of either of those two. I say this because I think "Davies" will eventually be one of our HB Flankers and we have a signifent number of defensive yet attacking HBF's. Therefore players like Johnson, Russell, Armfield & Grieg & Co need to be more versitile.

 

[Blue since 72]

From his early games before he was injured he was as HARD at the ball as either McLean and Hadley yet his foot and hand skills are far better than both those players.
For mine he could be that "Judd Protector" instead of either of those two. I say this because I think "Davies" will eventually be one of our HB Flankers and we have a signifent number of defensive yet attacking HBF's. Therefore players like Johnson, Russell, Armfield & Grieg & Co need to be more versitile.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=723130

I hear ya.

 

[stabface]

Was his opponent Strijk in the WCE game? The guy who seemed to never have a man on him and was carving us up?

 

[Kramer1]

Similar to Hoops in that his best is plenty good enough, just a matter of whether he can muster the required level of intensity week in, week out.

Would have huge benefit in terms of structure were he able to be a regular contributor and develop into the skilled HBF we do desperately need.

 

[Blue since 72]

Was his opponent Strijk in the WCE game? The guy who seemed to never have a man on him and was carving us up?

Not always, I did see Scotland on him for a bit but either way I'd suggest Strijk probably got under the MC's guard a bit, only his 3rd senior game so it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't put too much time into him.

Having said that its the point some posters (including me) have been saying about Johnson. Some would like to see him in the middle and others have advocated a HF role as I think we all realise he's not the world's greatest close checking defender.

 

[AlecDuncan]

I'm one of the "put him in the middle" people. His in-close work was excellent earlier in the season. Perhaps rotate him and Gibbs through the middle.

 

[Blue since 72]

Well I reckon Gibbs should be in the middle or off the ground resting and nowhere else every game but thats another story.

Whatever happens I believe we should have one of Johnson/Grigg/Mclean/Hadley in the centre at all times in every game (surely they wont all be injured at the same time)

 

[Bluebear]

Maybe you should watch his first 1/2 against the Weagles again.

Well I watched the first half again, and I'll concede had had 3-4 handballs (wasn't taking notes) and only one of them hit the mark.

One he lobbed to a stationary Gibbs on the outer wing who was tackled as he accepted it - probably should have kicked. Certainly wasn't panic, but was the wrong option.

As the ball came into the Le Cras/Russ contest CJ was front and square. The ball bouncesd and Russ had the run of it. Made an absolute meal of the take which bobbled up. CJ won the contested ball and handballed to Russ, who was falt footed - not sure why........he should have been moving to the contest......anyway, Le Cras intercepted and goaled. As much, if not more Russ' fault than CJ's and it wasn't a "panic hospital pass", but he took the tackle and got the fist on it towards Russ.......Russ was napping.

Another he handballed about 15m out in front of Murph to run onto. Was quite smart, just didn't quite sit for Murph but again, not a panic.

Another he gave off to Carrazzo who spilled a pud.

So no evidence other than maybe 1 to Gibbs of the hospital handpasses or the "hot potatoe" panic footy he played in close last year.

......and on top of that his kicking, especially to a player leading at him was superb. Only put one over the top of Garlett, who flew for it anyway, but otherwise his kicking was a feature.

I'll post what I saw in the second half, just in case you got your halves mixed up.

 

[Bluebear]

I like your style BB

Look we all have our reservations on some players and seemingly fall into a want of them not making good.

Am I a fan of Johnson and Ellard? Not yet.
Would I be happy to be so? Absolutely. Show me the money and I start dancing.

Yeah, I'm by no means pumping him up. Still has a lot to work on, but having someone who can hit a target lace out > 40m with our present form is like gold.

I also like the fact that he has clearly taken a lot out of last year, listened to what he has been told and worked hard on his game. It isn't "there" yet but it has improved, and that's all I can ask.

Ellard did great as a tagger, but his disposal let him down Sat night. Not a huge wrap yet. Lets hope he survives a few games and can settle and show us what he's got.

 

[Jock]

If he is in the side I want him kicking out every time.

Memo to Russell - You have come a long way but piss off from the kick ins, you scare the shit out of me and give away 2 goals a week with disastrous kick ins.