Steven Leigh Johnson (born 4 July 1983) 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 ...

er who played for the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

and the Greater Western Sydney Giants 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). He was selected by Geelong with pick 24 in the 2001 AFL Draft. His first few years were plagued with inconsistency, injury and off-field problems. A medium-sized forward, Johnson is renowned for his freakish ability on the field, where he has consistently wowed fans with his penchant for extraordinary goals.

Early life and junior football

Johnson was born and raised in

Wangaratta, Victoria Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

. He played junior football with the Tigers in the Wangaratta Junior Football League and then with

Wangaratta Football Club The Wangaratta Magpies Football Club, officially known as the Wangaratta Magpies Football & Netball Club, is an Australian rules football club, which first played in the Ovens and Murray Football League in 1893 and is based in Wangaratta, Victori ...

, before moving onto the

Murray Bushrangers The Murray Bushrangers is an Australian rules football team playing in Victorian statewide under-18s competition, presently known as the NAB League, since 1993 based in Wangaratta. The team trains on Norm Minns Oval. The team is coached by Mark ...

in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

AFL career

Geelong

Johnson was suspended by his club for the first five matches of the 2007 season after he was arrested for public drunkenness in

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

on 24 December 2006 - a charge which was later dropped. He returned in Round 6 against where he went on to contribute 21 possessions and two goals in a match Geelong won by 157 points. He went on to post career-best numbers across the board, capped off by

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

selection on the half-forward flank in September. His 2007 season was capped off when Johnson lead the Cats to victory in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, collecting a premiership medallion, and winning the

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990 the competition was known as the Victorian Football ...

for best on ground in the Grand Final. Johnson was hailed as a feel-good story for the year, with a good example of a player reforming after disciplinary action. Early in 2008, Johnson lost his drivers' licence and was sentenced to 50 hours working with the

Transport Accident Commission The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is the statutory insurer of third-party personal liability (CTP insurance in other states) for road accidents in the State of Victoria, Australia. It was established under the Transport Accident Act 198 ...

after he was clocked in over 70 km/h over the speed limit in a 50 zone. Teammate

Shannon Byrnes Shannon Byrnes (born 7 April 1984) is a former Australian rules footballer who last played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) after a ten-year career with the Geelong Football Club. He is currently a dev ...

was in the car at the time. He had yet another stellar season on-field in 2008, kicking 49 home-and-away season goals and earning a spot on the forward flank in the All-Australian team of 2008. He gathered 34 disposals in the Cats' Grand Final loss to

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 ...

. In the 2009 AFL season, he played 18 matches and kicked 40 goals, finishing tenth in the Geelong best and fairest award. He was a member of the Cats 2009 Premiership winning team. In 2011, 'Stevie Wonder', struggled to consistently produce the captivating form that had won him All Australian selection in previous years. He was still a force though, gaining recognition by being honoured in the initial All-Australian squad of 40. His season nearly came to an abrupt end, when during the third quarter of the Preliminary Final between Geelong and West Coast, he appeared to sustain a serious injury to his left knee. Racing against the clock in order to gain fitness for the Grand Final against the Magpies, it was heavily speculated that Johnson would be unable to gain full fitness in time. For almost the entire week, whilst his teammates trained in the spotlight, Johnson spent time up in Melbourne in a hyperbaric chamber. He recovered, and played a vital part in the Cats win over the Pies. He went on to kick 4 goals amongst 14 possessions, thus claiming his third premiership medallion.

GWS Giants

In October 2015, Johnson signed a one-year contract with . In his first match against his old club in Round 2, Johnson kicked two goals as his new club won by 13 points. On 28 September 2016 Johnson announced he had signed a one-year contract extension with GWS, after missing their preliminary final loss due to suspension. Johnson played the final game of his career in the 2017 Preliminary Final, where he collected 15 disposals and 4 marks in a 36-point loss to Richmond.

Statistics

, - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 12 , , 16 , , 12 , , 101 , , 50 , , 151 , , 40 , , 28 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 8.4 , , 4.2 , , 12.6 , , 3.3 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2003 , style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 15 , , 23 , , 12 , , 122 , , 49 , , 171 , , 54 , , 29 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , , 8.1 , , 3.3 , , 11.4 , , 3.6 , , 1.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2004 , style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 13 , , 21 , , 19 , , 143 , , 54 , , 197 , , 58 , , 31 , , 1.6 , , 1.5 , , 11.0 , , 4.2 , , 15.2 , , 4.5 , , 2.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 12 , , 18 , , 15 , , 129 , , 51 , , 180 , , 59 , , 19 , , 1.5 , , 1.3 , , 10.8 , , 4.3 , , 15.0 , , 4.9 , , 1.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 15 , , 30 , , 13 , , 139 , , 60 , , 199 , , 70 , , 22 , , 2.0 , , 0.9 , , 9.3 , , 4.0 , , 13.3 , , 4.7 , , 1.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2007 , style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 20 , , 49 , , 33 , , 286 , , 86 , , 372 , , 144 , , 44 , , 2.5 , , 1.7 , , 14.3 , , 4.3 , , 18.6 , , 7.2 , , 2.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 25 , , 53 , , 31 , , 333 , , 174 , , 507 , , 147 , , 65 , , 2.1 , , 1.2 , , 13.3 , , 7.0 , , 20.3 , , 5.9 , , 2.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 18 , , 40 , , 38 , , 255 , , 103 , , 358 , , 112 , , 44 , , 2.2 , , 2.1 , , 14.2 , , 5.7 , , 19.9 , , 6.2 , , 2.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 22 , , 63 , , 36 , , 274 , , 136 , , 410 , , 131 , , 50 , , 2.9 , , 1.6 , , 12.5 , , 6.2 , , 18.6 , , 6.0 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 23 , , 50 , , 37 , , 319 , , 195 , , 514 , , 143 , , 84 , , 2.2 , , 1.6 , , 13.9 , , 8.5 , , 22.3 , , 6.2 , , 3.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 21 , , 19 , , 17 , , 299 , , 166 , , 465 , , 117 , , 94 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 14.2 , , 7.9 , , 22.1 , , 5.6 , , 4.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 19 , , 23 , , 23 , , 315 , , 231 , , 546 , , 108 , , 87 , , 1.2 , , 1.2 , , 16.6 , , 12.2 , , 28.7 , , 5.7 , , 4.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2014 , style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 18 , , 17 , , 14 , , 265 , , 199 , , 464 , , 92 , , 94 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 14.7 , , 11.1 , , 25.8 , , 5.1 , , 5.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 20 , , 20 , , 30 , , 25 , , 256 , , 156 , , 412 , , 99 , , 46 , , 1.5 , , 1.3 , , 12.8 , , 7.8 , , 20.6 , , 5.0 , , 2.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 22 , , 43 , , 26 , , 255 , , 152 , , 407 , , 93 , , 63 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , 11.6 , , 6.9 , , 18.5 , , 4.2 , , 2.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2017 , style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 18 , , 21 , , 16 , , 159 , , 115 , , 274 , , 79 , , 50 , , 1.2 , , 0.9 , , 8.8 , , 6.4 , , 15.2 , , 4.4 , , 2.8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 293 ! 516 ! 367 ! 3650 ! 1977 ! 5627 ! 1546 ! 851 ! 1.8 ! 1.3 ! 12.5 ! 6.7 ! 19.2 ! 5.3 ! 2.9

Career highlights

AFL *

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

Player (2007, 2009, 2011) *

(2007) *

(2007–2008, 2010) Geelong * VFL Premiership Player (2002) *

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

Reserves Best First Year Player (2002) TAC Cup *

U/18 (2001) *Vic Country U/18 (2001)

Coaching

Not long after his retirement as an AFL player, Johnson joined the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

as an assistant coach.

References

External links

*
Steve Johnson official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Steve Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club Premiership players Greater Western Sydney Giants players 1983 births Living people All-Australians (AFL) Norm Smith Medal winners People from Wangaratta Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Murray Bushrangers players Wangaratta Football Club players Australia international rules football team players Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players