NRL: Johnson out to carve his own mark

New Zealand Warriors Shaun Johnson. Photo / Greg Bowker

The next Benji Marshall. The next Andrew Johns. The next Stacey Jones.

Shaun Johnson has been called all of these things but he doesn't want to be any. He wants to be the best Shaun Johnson.

Rarely before has a young New Zealand player arrived on the scene with such weight of expectation. Some would have buckled under that load, but not the 21-year-old.

For the past three years, we were told Johnson was a superstar in the making but for two seasons he was largely unsighted other than guiding the Junior Warriors to their inaugural title last season.

A back injury interrupted his chances at the start of 2011, and when he was fit he couldn't break his way into the first-grade side as James Maloney and Brett Seymour played in the halves.

Coach Ivan Cleary refused to bow to public pressure to include Johnson in the side too soon, saying he wasn't ready, but eventually Johnson's case was too compelling and he was handed his chance when Seymour fractured his cheekbone.

"I look back on [those two years] now and it was frustrating," Johnson admits. "It's every kid's dream to play NRL. At the time, I wanted to play. I have had a taste of it and I can fairly say I wasn't ready at the time. The coaching staff and people around me knew what they were doing."

They will also know Johnson's emergence has played a significant hand in their golden run to Sunday's grand final. It wasn't just the mesmerising run he mastered as a teenager on the touch rugby field that set up the match-winning try against Melbourne last weekend but his sparks, his pass and his speed over the past 15 weeks. He has scored six tries in that time, many from long range, and laid on many more for team-mates.

Crucially, however, Johnson also does the core duties well. He has a good kicking game, both short and long, which takes the pressure off fellow half James Maloney, and doesn't try the audacious when it's the wrong time.

"He's not the sort of guy who plays selfishly," Cleary says. "He understands his role for the team and is a very grounded sort of kid. I'm pretty confident he will go out on Sunday and know his job and keep focussed."

It's easy to forget Johnson will be playing only his 16th NRL game on Sunday. He hasn't even played Manly before. He's regularly mobbed now - fans converged on him at the Warriors' fans' day at Mt Smart Stadium on Tuesday and then when the team touched down in Sydney on Wednesday - but he takes it all in like a 10-year veteran.

"Maybe he had a lot of attention in another life because he handles it pretty well," Cleary offers. "It doesn't seem to faze him too much. I think deep down he probably loves it."

Johnson might have been an Aussie Rules player. He represented New Zealand at both touch and Aussie Rules and attracted the attention of the Sydney Swans after being named New Zealand's best player at an international youth tournament in 2006.

The Warriors, however, soon showed interest and Johnson was locked in. He arrived at Mt Smart Stadium weighing only 68kg and possessing a defensive game resembling a turnstile - there's not much need to tackle in touch.

He played a handful of games for the Vulcans in the New South Wales Cup last season, designed as a way to give him a taste of playing with men, but it wasn't overly successful and he was quickly returned to the Juniors.

But he bulked up and knuckled down and, while you wouldn't say his defence rivals anything Kieran Foran produces for Manly, he is adequate defending on the left edge.

He's now a much bulkier 88kg, only 1kg lighter than Foran who is the heaviest of all four halves playing on Sunday, and it doesn't appear to have affected his speed and agility. It didn't for that try against Melbourne and it only heightened the comparisons with Marshall.

"He's probably the only guy in the comp other than Benji who can do that play, but he's obviously got a long way to go to get to Benji and he knows that."

Johnson shrugs off the comparisons.

"I guess it's pretty special to be compared with Benji but he's a superstar and I am still a fair way off his ability," he says. "I'm just happy I could come up with a play for the boys at the right time.

"[I just want to] do my job and do it well, whether it's kicking or supporting. It's the little things the boys expect from me. As long as I can do that, and not let the boys down, I will be pretty happy."

If he does that, as well as the extra toppings, he might be the next Magic Johnson.