Shaun Johnson may be the favoured target for blame from Sharks fans, but all is not lost for the mercurial Test pivot.
Less than a month ago, Johnson was carving up the representative round, scoring three tries and making two line breaks during the Kiwis 34-14 win over Tonga, but since then has failed to fire for Cronulla.
His form came under the microscope during round 16’s shock less to the Broncos. With the Broncos up by two with four minutes remaining, Johnson was hooked by coach John Morris.
Instead it was left to rookie Kyle Flanagan, who had come on early to fix Cronulla’s goal-kicking woes, and half Chad Townsend to conjure up a miracle.
The Kiwi had endured another unhappy night – running for 45m from nine runs.
It’s not all Johnson’s fault, Sharks players have been keen to underline that point, but the expectations of the Kiwi pivot aren’t been met.
“There are obviously concerns over Johnson,” Paul Kent told The Matty Johns Podcast. this week.
“(John) Morris had a big chat to him this week about it. He’s basically been told he’s on last chance — a poor game and he’ll be going back to state cup which is a real kick in the pants for Johnson.
“I think Shaun Johnson is confused about his role.”
Johnson and halves partner Chad Townsend have history, having played together for two seasons, but who’s the dominant playmaker among the pair?
“I was talking to Benji Marshall the other day about when they went and played for the Kiwis. Benji’s previous Test before this one was way back in 2012 which was Johnson’s first, so they hadn’t played together since,” Kent said.
“Johnson grew up with Benji as his favourite player and we all see Benji as that player who has transitioned from an electric ball runner into a very clever game manager - a bit like (Darren) Lockyer did; just move people around and get them better to make him better.
“When they were in camp for the Kiwis, Johnson started to do this and do that and Benji said ‘mate, no, you’re a ball runner, you go and do that and leave the running of the team to me’. At that moment it suddenly clicked again and the team got going.
“Johnson doesn’t know what his job is, and I mean that respectfully. He’s trying to be everything they thought he should be, rather than going to what his best skills are.”
“It’s really interesting because as a coach, Johnny Morris would be running through a typical week at training which the majority of that is Shaun Johnson doing ball work with the football team,” Johns told The Matty Johns Podcast.
“It’s really hard for a bloke whose role is essentially to be a ball runner to be basically ‘mate, we’ll throw you the ball when something’s on and take the defence on’. But all week at ball work, he’s running through the patterns of play.
“So they get into that algorithm of going that way.
“He’s the perfect example of a bloke you almost pull out of the ball work a little bit. We just need your legs to be fresh and we’re going to pop you the ball when there’s something on and you just take them on.”
Johnson is expected to retain his place for this weekend's clash with the Melbourne Storm despite calls for 20-year-old Kyle Flanagan to start in his place.
