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Lewis Johnston article

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Gus

Gus

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Hi guys,

Sorry to intrude and self-promote, but I wrote this article on Lewis Johnston. It's at this link http://bit.ly/cIgvAq. I'd appreciate it if you went there to get my views up. It is also being uploaded to my regular website, countryfootyonline. I'll post the link when that gets done.

Thanks,

Gus.
Australian kids everywhere dream of making it to the AFL one day and playing alongside their heroes. This dream is ever so close to being a reality for Lewis Johnston.

Taken at pick number 12 by the Sydney Swans in the 2008 National Draft, Lewis is now training with the likes of Adam Goodes, Daniel Bradshaw, Jude Bolton and Brett Kirk.

More here: http://bit.ly/cIgvAq
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Thanks Gus,interesting read. It's a good wrap to be approached by 15 teams so hopefully he has a very bright future.
 
Best of luck to him, definitely.
 

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Not a bad option. The Hawks defence was clearly exposed by the Port marking forwards last week - we need more marking options up there I reckon.
 
About time he got a game. Good luck to him.
 
How did he go on the weekend?

Didnt get to watch the game, but he comes from around my area.
 
Lawrst said:
How did he go on the weekend?

Didnt get to watch the game, but he comes from around my area.
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He played pretty well for a physically developing forward in a tight game. He played on a much more developed young player but I was happy with his return. He kicked a beautiful goal from just outside 50 meters, 5 meters in from the boundary. He was niggled etc (stepping on his heels) and he had at least 1 or 2 pushes in his shoulders on leads/marks ignored (right in front of me /radelaide supporter).

Seemed to do the right things, but it will take time. May lose his spot if push comes to shove but he will be better for it.
 
Got outbodied often by Pratt, Thompson but showed enough IMO to say that he has a future. Needs to put some more weight on in order to be able to hold his ground and compete for contested marks (he either got outbodied or misread the ball and went under it) but I think as a player leading up the ground from CHF he has some value right now.
 

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Should have had two goals, clunked a beautiful mark in the 4th 40m out straight in front only to have his arms chopped and the mark gone unpaid.
 
"I wanted to stay in Adelaide at first so I was a little devastated when the Crows didn't take me with pick 10, but I was just excited to be drafted and was looking forward to the challenges ahead."
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I thought this had changed though.
 
Gus said:
I thought this had changed though.
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No reason to think it hadn't.

Now that trade week is over, I suspect the sequence of events was something along the lines of:

- Swans go into trade week with Walsh as a target and believing they need a pick in the 30-40 range to secure him

- Swans go into trade week considering Seaby to be expendable and knowing there was interest in him from at least one club. They probably expect Seaby will secure the pick they need from Walsh.

- At the start of trade week, Johnston has no expectation of or desire to be traded, having signed a new contract 6 months ago. The Swans have no particular desire to trade him out.

- Seaby fails a medical and it becomes clear he won't get them the pick they think they need for Walsh

- No clubs show interest in any other player the Swans would willingly clear from their list

- The Swans still want Walsh and start considering who else they might be willing to give up. The Crows show very strong interest in Johnston and indicate they will give up the pick the Swans need (and throw Armstrong in for good measure).

- The Swans toss up between Walsh and Johnston and, while not wanting to lose Johnston, decide that Walsh is more important to fill immediate needs.

- Johnston is then persuaded he wants to go home

Other comments have been made about "issues" with Johnston meaning the Swans were keen to trade him out. But while there clearly have been some question marks in the past over his work ethic, and he has been injury prone, I doubt very much that trading him was their intention.
 
It could of course just be that despite having the talent, he doesn't have the desire required to play AFL and in general terms, has an attitude problem. All of which would explain why he's only played 2 games and is traded now whilst he still has some trade currency as a "draft selection #12". Getting Armstrong & Lynch just made it all the sweeter.
 
CaptainChardonnay said:
It could of course just be that despite having the talent, he doesn't have the desire required to play AFL and in general terms, has an attitude problem. All of which would explain why he's only played 2 games and is traded now whilst he still has some trade currency as a "draft selection #12". Getting Armstrong & Lynch just made it all the sweeter.
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This is news to me. Crows will be pissed :rolleyes:
 

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CaptainChardonnay said:
It could of course just be that despite having the talent, he doesn't have the desire required to play AFL and in general terms, has an attitude problem. All of which would explain why he's only played 2 games and is traded now whilst he still has some trade currency as a "draft selection #12". Getting Armstrong & Lynch just made it all the sweeter.
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It's possible, yes.

I just reckon that if the Swans had serious misgivings about Johnston they wouldn't have given him a new two year contract in May. They might have just signed him up for another year to see how he went.

I also think it is more than coincidence that the news about the Swans being willing to include Johnston in their discussions with Adelaide broke almost exactly at the same time as reports of Seaby failing his medical at Port.
 

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