If playing finals is not the aim then dont get him.
If playing finals and winning one is the go then go get him. FFS he is a delisted f/a and wont be keeping anyone out of the side.
Can anyone name just one sml/med fwd at our club who has performed better than sj in the role. Can that fwd also go thru the middle and hurt the opposition.
People have to realise SJ is streets ahead of anything we have atm. One year or two years he improves the list and a deficient area of the list.
W eare hunting finals again next year arent we.
Claw, there is no doubt that SJ outperforms any sml/med forward I could name at Richmond (Edwards & Deledio would probably be the fairest comparisons). But the majority of our current sml/med forwards are just young draftees, to compare a 250 game triple premiership player to a 10 gamer in a sub vest isn't quite fair. Edwards & Delidio aside, you are comparing a gun player's whole career to our recent draftees first 2 years, not a fair comparison there.
Instead try comparing SJ's first 10 games to Lennon's & Lloyd's first 10. I reckon Lennon would be close, even Lloyd's numbers would be close too, all things considered.
On the 'apples to apples' basis, comparing any Geelong player from their golden period to any present young hopeful at Richmond doesn't prove much. It certainly doesn't prove that a 32-33yo SJ could cut it at Richmond in '16 ...
I would consider SJ as a 1-2 year rookie with a view towards an assistant coaching role at Richmond, but not as a listed player. Having a player of his indisputable class around the club & in our VFL side could only be a good thing. We could always promote him to the firsts if need be ...
It would be a valid gripe if i advocated we delist Lennon or Butler for SJ. Lloyd is very ordinary and a 26yo hes hardly a kid i would not hesitate to cut him for SJ if it came to that. I would rather two yrs of Johnson than 5yrs of Lloyd and mediocrity. .
If i did a best 22 which included the need to play kids then Butler, Lennon and Johnson would be in the fwd half. Hopefully Lennon and Johnson would be a part of midfield rotations.
As i said we are supposed to be a finals contender, we are even supposed to be looking at top 4. So it is about now!!!!! and right now Steve Johnson is a far better player than any sml/med forward we have on our list, and there is no competition when comparing the type, he is that far in front of the rest.It is a no brainer if we want to take the next step and win a final then a bloke like Johnson is Ideal even if we only have him for a year or two.
