Essendon great Tim Watson has placed Steve Johnson in the rarefied air of one the game’s great “turnstile clickers”.
The 34-year-old, who will draw time on his 16-year career at season’s end, is set to go down as one of the game’s modern day entertainers.
“Stevie has been one of those players that has actually dragged people through the turnstiles,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“I reckon there is a little bit of every country and suburban player in Stevie J in the way he plays.
“People recognise something that they thought they might have had in the way he plays.
“He plays with an extravagance of creativity but there’s something that you love and admire about that given it was probably something he was told not to at junior level and he’s still doing it at the elite level.”
Despite joining GWS Giants on a deal that was expected to see the half forward remain at the club in a coaching role, Breakfast co-host Garry Lyon hinted Johnson’s coaching career could kick off with cross-town rival Sydney.
“I heard that maybe the Sydney Swans are great fans of his footy mind and Tom Harley will be well aware of that,” he said.
Harley is the Swans’ football manager and will ascend to the role of CEO late next season after a succession plan was announced last month.
Lyon said the belief with which Johnson backed his talents will no doubt shape his post-football career.
“The great belief in his own ability to pull off things that most wouldn’t,” he said.
“He’s doing something no other player has done before and he’s continued to do it.”