Courtney Johns (born 14 November 1984) is a former professional
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
player who played for the
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...
in the
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
(AFL).
Early career
Johns was recruited by Essendon from
East Fremantle
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
. A career threatening fractured
labrum in his draft year (
2002 rookie draft) which kept him from the playing field for over two years. The injury left doubts that he would ever run again, let alone play football.
He had several surgeries to remove floating bone fragments from his distraught left hip, prolonged rehabilitation and a modified training regime to make an apparent full recovery. He was elevated to senior level at Essendon in 2005.
AFL career
2006
He suffered a rib injury after the round 14 game against
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
, where he showed good signs in his best game for the club until that stage - booting 3 goals and taking 7 marks.
When he made his return in round 19, he continued to show good signs with another 3 goal haul against
Collingwood, helping to result in Essendon's third win for the season.
Round 20 against
Hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
saw him kick no goals and have little impact as in previous games that season. He made up for it to some extent by kicking a goal against
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
in round 21. The Bombers last game for the season was against the
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
, though they had nothing to play for except a win, Essendon fought hard and Johns kicked his last goal for the season.
2007
In round 4, Johns' first match for the season, he did not make much of an impact but in his second match on
Anzac Day
, image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg
, caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary.
, observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands New ...
he booted two crucial goals, one from the boundary and on the edge of the fifty metre arc, the other straight in front beyond fifty.
2008
2008 was Johns' final season with Essendon, during which he played in just 2 games. During the season he injured his
anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...
(ACL) in a
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
(VFL), ending his season. He played 21 games, and Essendon won just 3 of those games. At the end of the 2008 season he was delisted.
Post-AFL career
Johns returned to the East Fremantle Football Club in a full-forward role in 2009, and later played in country Victoria.
At the end of the 2009 season, Johns was involved in a dispute with East Fremantle when he did not come back after an off-season trip. Subsequently, Johns was released to Heywood in the Western Border Football League (based on the Victorian/South Australian border) alongside other former AFL footballers, such as
Mal Michael. In round 2, against Hamilton Imperials, he kicked 11 goals, helping to end the club's 44-game losing streak. He finished the season as the leagues leading goal scorer with 78 goals.
In 2011, Courtney Johns signed with the
Aberfeldie Football Club in the
Essendon District Football League
The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competition ...
(EDFL), along with other former Bombers
Hayden Skipworth
Hayden Skipworth (born 25 February 1983) is a former Australian Rules Football, Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL) with the Adelaide Football Club and the Essendon Football Club. Skipworth returned to ...
and
Damien Peverill
Damien Peverill (born 12 July 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Peverill was known as a hard-working player whose no-nonsense approach to football, a ...
but had to bow out due to injury before the season even began. Johns played in multiple grand finals with the team, losing in 2013 and 2014 before winning in 2017 and 2018, retiring after the 2018 season.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Courtney
1984 births
Essendon Football Club players
Living people
East Fremantle Football Club players
Aberfeldie Football Club players
Heywood Football Club players
People educated at John Curtin College of the Arts
Australian rules footballers from Fremantle