Alex Johnson (Australian footballer)

Alex Johnson
Personal information
Full name Alex Johnson
Date of birth (1992-03-02) 2 March 1992
Original team(s) Oakleigh Chargers/Xavier College
Draft No. 57, 2010 National Draft, Sydney
Height / weight 193cm / 84kg
Position(s) Half-back flank
Club information
Current club Sydney
Number 2
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2011– Sydney 45 (1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2016.
Career highlights

Alex Johnson (born 2 March 1992) is a professional Australian rules football player for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played in the team that won the 2012 AFL Grand Final.

Career

He made his first appearance at the senior level in the 2011 AFL season.[1] Johnson made his debut in Round 3, against West Coast.[2] He was educated at Xavier College in Victoria.

Having put on plenty of weight in muscle before the 2011 season, Johnson was able to not only break into the senior side but maintain his position for the entire year. Playing as the third tall defender in the side, Johnson performed his role wonderfully well and exceeded all expectations of him set by the coaching staff, ably filling the role left by retiring champion Craig Bolton early in the year. His poise and strong one on one contesting were the standout features of his game throughout 2011 and he also improved his rebound and attacking play as the season wore on.

Johnson was a key player in the Sydney Swans' AFL Premiership-winning side, playing every game in the regular season and the finals series. His ability to play as a key defender and professional approach to the game saw him awarded with the 2012 Swans Rising Star Award.[3]

Since the 2012 premiership, Johnson has suffered repeated knee injuries, and as of the end of the 2016 season he is yet to make another senior appearance for Sydney. He tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in Sydney's 2013 NAB Cup match against the Gold Coast Suns, and underwent two knee reconstructions during 2013 – a traditional reconstruction in April and a LARS reconstruction in July. He returned to the field for the Sydney reserves in early 2014, but tore the ligament again in his first game back. It was not until September 2016 that Johnson was even able to return to running laps after this second injury, as it took a further three reconstruction surgeries between 2014 and 2016 before his knee successfully healed due to various complications and infections.[4][5] Johnson remains on the Sydney playing list, and performs an assistant coaching role with the Sydney reserves.[6]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2016 season[7]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team # Games G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
Totals Averages (per game)
2011 Sydney 34 20 1 0 190 77 267 89 34 0.1 0.0 9.5 3.9 13.4 4.5 1.7
2012 Sydney 34 25 0 4 209 142 351 108 65 0.0 0.2 8.4 5.7 14.0 4.3 2.6
2013 Sydney 34 0
2014 Sydney 34 0
2015 Sydney 34 0
2016 Sydney 2 0
Career 45 1 4 399 219 618 197 99 0.0 0.1 8.9 4.9 13.7 4.4 2.2

References

  1. Alex Johnson Player Profile, Sydney Swans
  2. Alex Johnson's statistics from AFL Tables
  3. Paolucci, Tanya (8 October 2012). "Alex on the rise".
  4. Adam Curley (8 February 2016). "'Why can't I?': Swans defender Alex Johnson using Daniel Menzel's return as inspiration". Australian Football League. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  5. Brendan Foster (8 September 2016). "Sydney Swans defender Alex Johnson runs first lap in 906 days". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, NSW. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  6. Eliza Sewell (26 May 2016). "Luckless Swan Alex Johnson to have fifth knee reconstruction but he's not giving up on his dream". Herald Sun. Melbourne, VIC. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  7. Alex Johnson's player profile at AFL Tables

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.