Shaun Johnson

Shaun Johnson

Johnson playing for the Warriors in 2013
Personal information
Born	(1990-09-09) 9 September 1990 Auckland, New Zealand
Height	179 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	92 kg (14 st 7 lb)
Playing information
Position	Halfback
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2011–	NZ Warriors	62	28	64	2	244
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2012–13	New Zealand	8	6	36	0	96
2013	NRL All Stars	1	0	0	0	0
Source: RLP

Shaun Johnson (born September 9, 1990) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer for the New Zealand Warriors of the National Rugby League. A New Zealand international representative half back, he has played his entire career to date with the Warriors. NRL commentator Phil Gould has described him as the "New Benji Marshall".

Background

Johnson's mother is Laotian and his father is a Pākehā (New Zealander of European origin).^[1] From Whangaparaoa, Johnson attended Orewa College and played many sports, including basketball and rugby union, but made his name playing touch rugby and Australian rules football. He represented New Zealand in both touch rugby and Australian rules football and played rugby union in his school's First XV.^[2] He played rugby league for the Hibiscus Coast Raiders from the age of four until signing for the Warriors.^[3]

Playing career

Johnson played for the Hibiscus Coast Raiders 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. In March 2009, League great Andrew Johns commented: "I haven't been this excited about a player in a long time." Johns was referring to the first time he saw Stacey Jones play, which was in 1995, when Stacey was a junior.^[5] 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.^[6]

Johnson 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 mesmerising 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 NRL 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. In addition to his playmaking abilities, Johnson is noted for his blistering pace which he uses to break through opposition lines and chase down attacking threats.

Due to Kieran Foran's hamstring injury, Johnson was selected as halfback for the New Zealand Kiwis in the 2012 ANZAC Test. In his debut test match Johnson scored an 80 metre intercept try. Along with Konrad Hurrell and Manu Vatuvei, Johnson was the 2012 New Zealand Warriors season's top try-scorer with 12. He also received the Rugby League International Federation's Rookie of the Year award for 2012.^[9]

For the 2013 Anzac Test, Johnson was selected to play Halfback for New Zealand, kicking two goals from two attempts in their loss against Australia at Canberra Stadium. In July 2013, during a match vs the Sydney Roosters, Johnson chased down Michael Jennings after the latter picked up a loose ball and sprinted toward an undefended try line.^[10]

Following the 2013 NRL Season, Johnson was selected in New Zealand's Rugby League World Cup Squad.^[11]

Johnson was selected for the Kiwis' first 2013 Rugby League World Cup game against Samoa playing at Halfback in the Kiwis' 42-24 win, kicking 5 goals from 8 attempts.^[12] The following week, he played in the Kiwis' 48-0 win over France, scoring 2 tries, kicking 8 goals from 8 attempts and was awarded man-of-the-match.^[13] He even played in the Kiwis' 56-10 win over Papua New Guinea of the Kiwis' Final Group B Pool Game, kicking 8 goals from 10 attempts, sealing 1st place for the Kiwis on the World Cup Group B leader-board.^[14] He featured in the Kiwis' Quarterfinals 40-4 win over Scotland, scoring a try and kicking 4 goals from 8 attempts.^[15]

In the Rugby League World Cup Semi Finals on the 24th November against England at Wembley Stadium after the game was locked-up at 8-all at halftime and England in the lead 18-14, with seconds to go in the game Johnson scored the final try of the game in the 80th minute after stepping and sliding through a hole to level the score at 18-all and then converting his own try to seal the win and to cement the Kiwis' place in the World Cup final.^[16]

References