The first time Johnson played against 27-year-old Marshall was his second game in first grade. The most recent was in the last year's NRL semifinal, where the Warriors fought back to defeat the Tigers in the dying minutes.
Needless to say, Johnson's approach to this match-up has matured.
"[The first time] I probably was a little too wrapped up with the excitement of playing against a player with his class. With this week it's probably all about our team and what we can do."
Every game is important, but a victory over the Tigers, one position below the Warriors in ninth place, will allow the Auckland-based club to continue its recent revival.
Back to the contest everyone is talking about, though. Any banter this week between the pair?
"No, we're pretty good. He's tutored me at the Kiwis and really helped me out so I'm sure he won't be doing that come Friday night but I'm really excited and up for the challenge."
Johnson is used to the attention he receives on the field and he portrays that same coolness off it, saying he doesn't feel any extra pressure leading into this match despite all the hype.
"It's just like any other game, to be honest. You're always playing against good players each week. I played against Mitchell Pearce last week and he's the Origin half, so no, it's just another challenge that I'm looking forward to."
Johnson's background in touch rugby is well documented, his experience as an Aussie Rules player when growing up on the Hibiscus Coast north of Auckland, less so. But rarely has a player displayed the influences of other sports as he did in scoring his double at Mt Smart Stadium last weekend.
Both tries came in the second half and were crucial given the 30-26 final score. The first was created by an outrageous 'jump step' straight from the touch field, and the second channelled his Aussie Rules ability when he leaped to claim a James Maloney bomb.
"The first one, I sort of just got the ball and shifted across the field. I can't really say how it happened, I just saw a defender and saw a bigger boy on the inside of him and chanced my arm and was lucky enough to get through.
"The second one, that kind of did come from Aussie Rules. If I hadn't played it when I was younger you could say that try wouldn't have gone down like that. I'm very thankful I took that path when I was younger."
As for the outrageous sidestep, which he said was entirely instinctive, Johnson said: "It was something I practised when I was a young fella, just running around on the touch field, jumping in the air, stepping. But it's heaps different in league, I don't think you can do the big jump step in league, you've got to be more explosive and take the gap when it's there. It's just something that naturally comes to me ... I was just happy to bring some sort of step out."
