Micheal Johnson

[Ripper]

Had my first look at him in the practise match and was very impressed. Agree with the Clem Micheal comments.

 

[anchor man]

A bit further on from when this was posted,but saw Johnson play against The Crows and thought his fitness and stamina left quite a bit to be desired.Saw him standing with hands on knees quite often.He will certainly have to do a lot of work to win a place in the top side.
He certainly is a good size and seems to have a fair amount of skill.
Similar to Clem!!!!! not sure on that one.Maybe time will tell.

 

[mick ryan]

Originally posted by RIPPER_46
Had my first look at him in the practise match and was very impressed. Agree with the Clem Micheal comments.

I think you'll find it's Clem MICHAEL and MICHAEL Johnson. The one thing they do have in common apart from their indigenous background is that they are both SOFT!

 

[Moo]

Thnaks for that Mick ....this would be based on his 1.5 scratch matches to date or his pre-season training?

I am worried now that we should have taken a key player from the Gnowangerup Under 15's ....damn us for wasting a pick on this old bloke with no talent.

You know what I think I may just be crazy and give him at least a season to adjust to AFL football.

 

[The Mission Man]

I have always found armchair critics calling players soft to be a bit distasteful. These are, after all, young men who have managed to make their way onto a football paddock at the elite level. They didn't just waddle on there having forged a reputation for shirking the issue and really just preferring to have a lazy kick-to-kick.

You are soft. You are a pale homebody best suited to sedentary work, wandering from your television to your computer keyboard, the heaviest thing you carry being a cereal bowl.

They get hit for a living.

 

[Exeter]

Originally posted by The Mission Man
I have always found armchair critics calling players soft to be a bit distasteful. These are, after all, young men who have managed to make their way onto a football paddock at the elite level. They didn't just waddle on there having forged a reputation for shirking the issue and really just preferring to have a lazy kick-to-kick.

You are soft. You are a pale homebody best suited to sedentary work, wandering from your television to your computer keyboard, the heaviest thing you carry being a cereal bowl.

They get hit for a living.

Raises an interesting point. Can't comment on the perceived softness of Michael or Johnson although by the sounds of things Johnson glutes need reversing lights and a beeping signal when he's backing up.

I suppose there is relative softness (leading with my jaw here) and I would have thought players like Rent boy Croad could be considered soft. Matthew Richardson is cranially soft.

 

[Au_Blue#24]

Originally posted by Exeter
Raises an interesting point. Can't comment on the perceived softness of Michael or Johnson although by the sounds of things Johnson glutes need reversing lights and a beeping signal when he's backing up.

I suppose there is relative softness (leading with my jaw here) and I would have thought players like Rent boy Croad could be considered soft. Matthew Richardson is cranially soft.

Yeh - its pretty hard to sustain the theory that elite footy players are soft, but obviously you gets levels of hardness.

archer is tough as they come - oppossed to say lonie(coll) or lloyd

 

[The Mission Man]

I wouldn't describe Garbo Croad as soft, just Not Very Good. He's got no idea how to hit someone hard in a legal bump, but if he did, he'd be doing it all the time. And it would hurt. You think he's soft because he's pretty but if he had a clue, he'd actually be dangerous.

Lloyd weighs a ton, has more muscle than is actually healthy and moves at about a hundred miles an hour - yet when he applies one of his crude and ugly hits (obviously on instruction to use his body - I don't think he's naturally inclined that way) it never sticks and everyone in earshot goes over to remonstrate - even the little blokes. They're not scared of Lloyd. He looks too much like a headlit rabbit to be scared of him.

I agree, there are relative scales of courage/meanness/toughness - but the starting point (shall we call it a Bowden or a Cousins?) is pretty tough.

Tougher than the folks at home saying "soft".

 

[Captain Random]

Is there any difference between armchair critic calling a footballer soft, and an armchair critic calling a footballer a crab?

 

[The Mission Man]

Good point.

I understand that you don't need to be a chicken to get on the Egg Board, but something about the word "soft" as applied to professional footballers by punters at home who'd cry if their fingers were popped gets to me.

You can appreciate skill level - and deprecate skill level - without being skilled yourself, but calling someone soft is a bit hard for me to digest.

 

[Exeter]

Originally posted by The Mission Man
Good point.

I understand that you don't need to be a chicken to get on the Egg Board, but something about the word "soft" as applied to professional footballers by punters at home who'd cry if their fingers were popped gets to me.

You can appreciate skill level - and deprecate skill level - without being skilled yourself, but calling someone soft is a bit hard for me to digest.

The notion of toughness has a few dimensions, as a starting point I'd suggest the following:

1. The degree to which a player shirks a contest and, the willingness to put his body on the line
2. The ability to shrug a determined tag and still contribute to the team's performance
3. Physical endurance and the ability to get up, barring injury, and keep playing after a receiving a shirtfront.

"Pretty" doesn't necessarily cancel out toughness. Cousins, despite being viewed as a slim hipped nancy boy by anyone wearing purple, is a very good example of point 2.

Harry Highpants might be an annoying gay bar loitering goldfish, but he usually performs week in week out against the games best fullbacks.

Archer is tough, I remember getting up after a Worsfold shirtfront (legal) that would have had most players stretchered off. He kept playing - didn't do much - but he kept playing.

McManus, although plug ugly and dumb to boot, impressed me by getting up and kicking a goal after a heavy clash with Wirrpunda.