He may be the best Nines player in the world, but Shaun Johnson isn’t that fussed about taking the field for the Sharks in Perth.
Although, fussed needs a clarification: he wants to play in the Nines this weekend, but if the Cronulla pivot isn’t there, life goes on.
Johnson managed 18 games in his inaugural year for the Sharks, with plenty more planned for his sophomore year in the black, white and blue.
"I want to see 26 games from me – I want to see 30,” Johnson told Sporting News. “Nines doesn't mean anything to me; round one means something to me.”
MORE: St George Illawarra legend Jason Nightingale to return for NRL Nines | Pat Richards to make comeback for Wests Tigers in the Nines
Not that he wasn't in Sharks coach John Morris’ ear about playing in the two-day festival of footy.
"I've been putting it on Bomber, so he better bloody put me in there."
“Every day I finish training like, 'There's another one, Bomber. Did you see me run today? I felt fast today'.
"If he didn't pick me I’m not going to be whinging about it but for me, if I'm thinking about round one, this is a part of that prep. What am I going to be doing, running laps around the field back here anyway?
"Nothing beats a game-like situation, especially Nines.”
If Morris was to keep Johnson – a player Fox NRL commentator Andrew Voss once described as a certain Immortal if nines was a regular format – on the shelf, disappointed punters could surely see his reasoning.
No team that has made the nines final has made the NRL grand final in the same year and if the Sharks are to have any chance at a deep run into finals, they’ll need a healthy Shaun Johnson.
Johnson’s much publicised hamstring injuries are in truth a flow-on effect from a back injury requiring frequent cortisone injections in lieu of shaving a disc which would have ruled him out for the year.
"I actually had it 2010, I did it in the captain's run before our Toyota Cup grand final [for the Warriors],” he said.
"And then I missed the pre-season in 2011 when I debuted and sort of managed it, then every now and then it would just flare up. It was a pretty bad one last year."
With an extended pre-season behind him and the prospect of another star appearance at the nines, a healthier, confident Johnson could be what the Sharks need to kick off their 2020 campaign after crashing out in week one of the finals last year.
"I'm not there yet by any stretch but it's heading in the right direction and that's why I feel confident about putting my hand up for Nines.
"I feel stronger now than I have in a long time.”
