Personal information | ||||||
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Born | 9 September 1990 New Zealand |
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Height | 179 cm (5 ft 10 in) | |||||
Weight | 85 kg (13 st 5 lb) | |||||
Playing information | ||||||
Position | Halfback, Five-eighth | |||||
Club | ||||||
Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
2011– | New Zealand Warriors | 15 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
Source: RLP |
Shaun Johnson is a New Zealand rugby league player who currently plays for the New Zealand Warriors. NRL commentator Phil Gould has described him as the "New Benji Marshall".
From Whangaparaoa, Johnson attended Orewa College and mainly played touch rugby at High School before a switching to rugby league.[1] He has represented New Zealand in both touch and Aussie Rules and played first XV rugby union for his school.[2]
His mother is Laotian and his father is a Pākehā.[3]
Johnson played for the Hibiscus Coast Raiders and Northcote Tigers in the Auckland Rugby League competition before being signed by the New Zealand Warriors in 2009.[4]
Johnson started his professional career playing for the Junior Warriors in the Toyota Cup. Johnson spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons with the Junior Warriors and played 45 matches, scoring 25 tries, 159 goals and 4 field goals to finish his Toyota Cup career with 422 points.[5] It was during this time that Andrew Johns commented that he had not been this excited about a player since Stacey Jones.[6] He made his NSW Cup debut for the Auckland Vulcans in 2010 and also represented the Junior Kiwis that year.[7] His final Toyota Cup match was being part of the Junior Warriors winning the 2010 Grand Final.
After suffering an injury at in the pre-season, Johnson spent the start of the 2011 season with the Auckland Vulcans before making his National Rugby League debut on 4 June 2011 against the Sydney Roosters due to an injury to Brett Seymour.[8]
In the 2011 Preliminary Final against the Melbourne Storm, after his team played a flawless second half, Johnson set up a mesmorizing try for Lewis Brown to seal the game in the 76th minute to play the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the 2011 Grand Final. The Warriors lost to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24-10 in the 2011 Grand Final however Johnson played a tremendous game and almost sparked a surprise upset comeback with a role in both tries and a few outstanding runs. Johnson was named in the New Zealand Kiwis squad for the 2011 Four Nations but withdrew with an injury.
Johnson has re-signed with the Warriors until the end of the 2014 season.[9]
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