Johnson wiser on leadership
9:18:41 AM Fri 10 February, 2006
Paul Gough
Exclusive to afl.com.au
By his own admission, his first year as Richmond captain was "a bit of a blur" last year, but as the 2006 AFL season fast approaches, Kane Johnson is ready to leave his stamp on the Tigers.
Johnson, speaking exclusively to Sportal, said he is ready to play a far bigger role at Richmond this year - in particular helping to develop the next crop of Tiger leaders.
But the dual Adelaide premiership player plans to captain the club he supported as a boy for a few more years yet and says there is no reason Richmond can't make a long overdue finals appearance this year.
After a 2005 season in which new coach Terry Wallace was the public face of Richmond, Johnson is ready to share the workload this year as he begins to feel comfortable with captaining one of Victoria's biggest AFL clubs.
"Last year everything happened so quickly, I didn't find out about the captaincy until March and by then the (pre) season had started and before you know it the season is over," Johnson said.
"It's only been now that I have been able to develop into the role over the pre-season and get a good hold of our leadership group (which also includes vice-captain Nathan Brown and deputy vice-captains Darren Gaspar, Matthew Richardson and Joel Bowden) and we are working well together."
Johnson said he enjoyed the experience of being captain last year but with one year under his belt is now more conscious of just what it involves.
"Last year it was probably more a case of feeling my way through - it was Plough's (Wallace's) first year in charge as well so he took most of the responsibility for the group.
"But this year he has sort of put it on the leadership group to come up with our own standards and values and I have really enjoyed that."
Johnson says there are two reasons the Tigers can continue last year's climb (which saw the club rise from four wins to ten wins) and make the finals this year for only the third time since 1982.
These are a slower build-up to the season - designed to ensure the Tigers don't peak too early and thus end the late season fade-outs that have been so common at Richmond in recent years - and more players ready to help out Johnson, Mark Coughlan and Shane Tuck in midfield.
"We just had too much of a workload on too few (in midfield) last year, we didn't have enough rotations and blokes got tired and we couldn't carry the load any more," he said.
"You look at West Coast - they have got eight, nine, ten midfielders and they can rotate blokes like Daniel Kerr, who played off the bench all last year and came second in the Brownlow."
"This year I think a few of the younger blokes will step up and go through the midfield - guys like (Brett) Deledio, Axel (Nathan) Foley, Danny Meyer, Richard Tambling and we will have Dave Rodan back as well (from a knee injury).
While Johnson said the Tigers now had a young list, he said the senior core was at its peak and capable of leading the club back to the September action provided the list remains healthy.
"Every side thinks they can make the eight, but if you look at our best side it's still a bloody good side on paper," he said of a team which beat eventual premiers Sydney by a point in their only meeting last year and which went down by a kick in their only clash with runners-up West Coast.
"Our best footy proved last year we could mix it with the best, but we were a little bit inconsistent."
"But this year we will be about trying to play consistent football all year and with a little bit of luck with injury - which I think is the same for all sides because if you lose your key players you will be in trouble - we will do all right."
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=245139
