How Shaun Johnson changed the NRL

By Jasper Bruce & Scott Bailey

Shaun Johnson’s 13-year magic show may be the most important in the history of New Zealand rugby league.

Not just for the those who chose to follow his path since 2011, but for the legacy he leaves for the next generation as well.

Saturday night’s clash with Cronulla will mark Johnson’s last in the NRL, some 13 years after he burst onto the scene as a bombastic ball runner.

It was as a 20-year-old that Johnson captured the hearts of New Zealanders, taking the Warriors to a grand final in his rookie season with a magical run through September.

There was the step, the dummy and just the sheer ability to grab the game by the scruff of the neck with ad-lib football that had not been seen since the early days of Benji Marshall.

All in a time when the All Blacks were kings in New Zealand, and rugby league was battling for air.

“He overtook me [in New Zealand],” Marshall told AAP.

“He was doing some wacky steps and massive things that a lot of these kids are still following.

“One thing you can never imagine is the influence he had on young New Zealanders, whether they played rugby league or not, to want to be good at what he did.

“The sidestepping, the no-look passes.

“He encouraged a generation of kids to want to be like him, which is pretty special.”

For all the highlight reels, magical comebacks and absolute clinics of the early 2010s, Johnson’s longer-lasting impact arguably came in his later years. And on this side of the Tasman.

The halfback is unlikely to be best remembered for a three-year stint at Cronulla, much of which was cloaked in Covid restrictions that took a toll on Johnson and his family.

But for Sharks five-eighth Braydon Trindall, who partnered Johnson in the halves on NRL debut in 2020, the veteran’s lessons won’t ever be forgotten.

When Trindall found himself at his lowest ebb this season, guilty of drink-driving and suspended from the game he loved after failing a roadside illicit drug test, those lessons came to mind.

Johnson had modelled resilience for Trindall not just on the field, but as he struggled with being separated from family in New Zealand amid the pandemic.

“That’s that leadership that he shows, he left all his baggage at the door. He came here to do a job and play footy. He’s a great leader,” Trindall said.

“I obviously had those dramas at the start of the year, and over the years when SJ was here and when he left, he kind of developed those leadership qualities and how to go about things.

“I copped that on the chin and I think partially it was a bit of help from SJ when he was here.”

Johnson had a major impact on the finals-bound Trindall.

“When you’re coming through as a young half you’re kind of just playing off the cuff and you’re still learning your craft,” he said.

“SJ, it was just all-around leadership, he taught me a lot.”

Sharks second-rower Briton Nikora was a self-confessed footy tragic growing up in New Zealand, and took his love of the Warriors to Australia when his family relocated during primary school.

He remembers Johnson as a headgear-clad under-20s player, playing for the now defunct Auckland Vulcans in the NSW Cup and helping to inspire a grand final berth in 2011.

In a country mesmerised by the other rugby code, Johnson isn’t just a star of the game, he’s a necessity for the game.

“The All Blacks are a massive thing over in New Zealand so when you have players like that, that you grow up and idolise, it’s big not only for the sport but all the young fellas coming through in New Zealand,” Nikora told AAP.

“It’s massive, having those types of players.”

Perhaps the most under-rated chapter of Johnson’s career has been his last at the Warriors.

At the start of 2023, Johnson was a man at a crossroads. The body had slowed ever so slightly, and it was time to reinvent or perish.

Johnson chose the path of reinvention.

He went within a whisker of last year’s Dally M, returned the club to their first preliminary final since 2011 and captured New Zealand’s admiration all over again.

More importantly, he leaves a legacy that should help guide the Warriors through the next decade and beyond.

Off the field, with the club enjoying the first sold-out season in the game’s history this year off the back of his brilliance.

And on it, with the next generation of halves at the Warriors.

“It’s more the technical and tactical side of the game [that he’s given me],” Johnson’s last halves partner Luke Metcalf said.

“Off the field when we are watching video in halves and spine meetings, the way he looks at it and what he’s looking for in defences, and how to attack it and go about it.

“That’s the biggest thing I will take from him.

“And when I’m a bit older I will be able to tell my people I got to play with my favourite player and one of the greatest to play the game.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission