Michael Johnson

[theGav56]

C'mon Gav, you can't be serious. If that were the case Brett Burton would be an AA CHB. I don't know about you but when I played juniors the best players were always positioned down the spine.

I'm not sure that is what I am saying??? Are you saying Johnson is being moved to the wing because he does not have the capacity to be one o "the best players"? Because most of the argument for him to move there is to emulate Goodes, Pavlich etc. who can easily hold down KP's. Murphy is not one of our "best" 5 players (Mundy, Hasleby, Farmer etc are all better), but he looks like being in the spine. He is simply the best player for that position.

What I am saying is that it seems an easier task to teach MJ to play tighter than it would be to teach him to play wing/on-ball/midfield or whatever. Also, to me CHB is the main spot we have up for grabs, with some of our other options being a little small for the role and McP being prefered at FB. MJ looks like the perfect build, it is just his skill base in defensive tactics that is lacking. The other thing is that so far I have seen nothing about MJ to suggest that he has the fitness base for a game on the wing, as opposed to a stint there during a game.

 

[macca69]

C'mon Gav, you can't be serious. If that were the case Brett Burton would be an AA CHB. I don't know about you but when I played juniors the best players were always positioned down the spine.

As a general rule at junior level, the better players play in more attacking positions, either midfield, ruck or forward. The less talented players generally play in the backline. That's why in most drafts the early picks are midfielders or KP forwards, and the better defenders (tall or small) are generally taken late or not at all.

Dunno how you came to the conclusion the best players are played down the spine at junior level. Can't say Gibbs or Murphy have ever played there.

 

[peppy la pew]

MJ is a great emerging talent no questions, but i still reckon he got touched up in the Melbourne final by Miller playing CHF.
That is the area he has to improve, one on one defence.

 

[Bigger]

MJ is a great emerging talent no questions, but i still reckon he got touched up in the Melbourne final by Miller playing CHF.
That is the area he has to improve, one on one defence.

Straight line speed. Defenders like Johnson play from behind because in (relatyively) stationary contests they will usually win playing from behind. he is used to out marking or slipping one of those lanky arms through for the wlltimed punch. he reads the ball best from behind. But get a bloke with pace and stamina on him and he's r ooted. As Miller showed in that game. but Miller was getting his 11 or so marks way way up the ground; where he couldn't hurt us. and he had to glove neatly every single one of those marks because one of Johnno's strengths is the second effort after the contest, mopping up and hurting you the other way.

He is sensational below his knees - as tyson Stenglein will testfy to.

He actuyally got beat plenty in one-on-ones this year - he has limited upper-body strength to match his relative lack of start-up speed - but more than compensated with these other, secondary defence, skills.

and he's got plenty of skills.

 

[theGav56]

Regardless of where he is going to play, I think the main development for MJ is his upper speed off the mark, body strength and his stamina.

 

[theGav56]

Interested in anyones thoughts about him in the intra-club. Obviously not a great game for him. To me, he looked lost, and he looked slow. I find it difficult to figure out MJ's pace. I have read posters on here who think he has pace, but he would get blown away on occassions by forwards when he was in defence, and yesterday did not seem to have "another gear" apart from cruise. Certainly not the hard running that you see Goodes do, which is who he has been compared to on here. I guess Goodes time in the ruck would have given him a fantastic grounding in getting to contests and positioning.

His strength on the wing is obviously his ball handling at ground level, and his size. But I did not see much blocking/shepharding and generally using his bulk to advantage. I don't see the agression in him at the moment to achieve this.

I suspect for him to succeed in this role it will take a couple of seasons/pre-seasons to get his aerobic abilty up for it, as well as to get his skill set rounded out.

 

[dominguez]

I'm happy for them to try new things, aslong as they pull the plug if it isn't working. In the past we have persevered with experiments for too long, hopefully that doesn't happen this time because it can really drain a players confidence. He's had one practice match up the ground, and it didn't work. If he shows signs of real improvement in the next month then by all means we should stick with it, but if he still looks lost at the completion of the nab cup he should return to the backline for round one.

 

[TOA.]

Interested in anyones thoughts about him in the intra-club. Obviously not a great game for him. To me, he looked lost, and he looked slow. I find it difficult to figure out MJ's pace. I have read posters on here who think he has pace, but he would get blown away on occassions by forwards when he was in defence, and yesterday did not seem to have "another gear" apart from cruise. Certainly not the hard running that you see Goodes do, which is who he has been compared to on here. I guess Goodes time in the ruck would have given him a fantastic grounding in getting to contests and positioning.

His strength on the wing is obviously his ball handling at ground level, and his size. But I did not see much blocking/shepharding and generally using his bulk to advantage. I don't see the agression in him at the moment to achieve this.

I suspect for him to succeed in this role it will take a couple of seasons/pre-seasons to get his aerobic abilty up for it, as well as to get his skill set rounded out.

He isnt quick or overly athletic. That is why he wasnt drafted for those couple of years where all us 'amateurs' saw him playing WAFL and thought he looked the goods. He also lacked a general drive or intensity about his game which has improved. Playing in defence overcomes these 'issues' because he is very good at zoning off and reading the ball through the air. He isnt needed to run 30m flat out on a lead or burst away from congestion. However, playing on wing, he will be playing on guys who are quick AND he will be required to be able to sprint not only to cover his man but also make play for your side. A slow wingman on Subi simply doesnt work, if you are slow you at least have to be able to run your opponent off his legs.

To be honest I dont know why Freo are so obsessed with turning some of your backs into midfielders. Drum, Mundy and Johnson are all natural defenders, it comes naturally to them like it did to Guy McKenna. None of them are that quick or strong in congestion. Drum and Mundy were trialled in the midfield as juniors and looked out of it. They are darn good defenders, leave them there. Maybe push up on the wings at times but if you want midfielders who will be AFL top tier midfielders you need to draft midfielders. Somone like Kerr is a natural midfielder (loves congestion, has speed, aggression, ball winning ability) just like Mundy/Johnson are natural defenders (good height, read the ball extremely well, negate and provide run).

Some may disagree with me, but I cannot for the life of me see the traits that Mundy, Drum and Johnson display that would make them good midfielders. I ask my docker friends the same question, all they say is that they are 'big' and we like big midfielders.

 

[Dr Ralph Dagg]

Dunno how you came to the conclusion the best players are played down the spine at junior level. Can't say Gibbs or Murphy have ever played there.

Now we have midfielders but the centre man as we called them was part of the spine. Greg Williams, Ted Whitten, Ian Stewart. Even the likes of Hase Robert Harvey, Scotty West. Gibbs and Murphy are classic centre men. You don;t see any of these guys playing on a wing do you?

 

[dominguez]

To be honest I dont know why Freo are so obsessed with turning some of your backs into midfielders. Drum, Mundy and Johnson are all natural defenders, it comes naturally to them like it did to Guy McKenna. None of them are that quick or strong in congestion. Drum and Mundy were trialled in the midfield as juniors and looked out of it. They are darn good defenders, leave them there. Maybe push up on the wings at times but if you want midfielders who will be AFL top tier midfielders you need to draft midfielders. Somone like Kerr is a natural midfielder (loves congestion, has speed, aggression, ball winning ability) just like Mundy/Johnson are natural defenders (good height, read the ball extremely well, negate and provide run).
QUOTE]


Agree with you that Drum, Mundy and Johnson are natural defenders and that it is unlikely that they will become midfielders. The problem is that we have McPharlin, Hayden, Parker, Grover, Haddrill, Johnson, Duffield, Black, Solomon, Dodd, Mundy and Thornton on our list who all look like they have the ability to play afl football, but all have played their best footy in the backline. You can't take a dozen defenders into a game of footy, so the club is trying to reinvent some of them so that we don't have quality players missing out. Duffield would be a regular at a bottom 8 side IMO.

Drum, Gilmore and Webster played forward last year because there was no chance of them getting a game at half back. For the same reason Solomon has spent the summer being groomed as a half forward, and it's going to be extremely hard for Dunn and Walker to even getting close to getting a game.

It's not that we "like big midfielders", more a case of us having a lot of small ones and would like to get the balance right. A Judd/Goodes/Pavlich on the ball would see us go from contenders to unstoppable IMO.

 

[sumavich]

Johnno will play defence, its just that they are giving him a taste of things if we need to move him. We here at Fremantle are all about multi-skilling.
He'll be in defence in the 1st round against Port. But geez he looks the goodes to me, pardon the pun. His evasion last year in the team goal of the year against the Toast was class.

 

[bushie]

I find it interesting that MJ is almost being written off as a midfield prospect from the evidence shown from the first intra club practice match of the year!!

One swallow does not make a spring.

 

[dockers_bengals]

Regardless of where he is going to play, I think the main development for MJ is his upper speed off the mark, body strength and his stamina.

His upper speed is fine,he has run down davey and others,I believe its his take off speed and I dont think you can build him up because he may lose some speed also going on last year and the amount of runs forward he made his stamina seems fine.

 

[newlander77]

Players are not going to hit peak form after 1 intraclub trial game

You have to remember they tread on the side of caution and their team mates know their games pretty well too. They are not playing to a game plan.