Warriors’ Shaun Johnson honoured to be talked about as Dally M contender

Shaun Johnson says it’s a pleasant change to hear himself being talked about as a contender for this year’s Dally M award.

The Warriors halfback had another impressive performance in the 30-22 win over Wests Tigers in Hamilton on Saturday night and they’ll end this round with a four-point cushion inside the top four, with only three games to go.

Johnson, who took a break from goal kicking during the game to rest a sore quad, had yet another outstanding game and would have picked up more points for the Dally M voting.

Johnson’s focus is to help the Warriors win a Premiership rather than chase individual honours, but says it’s been an honour to hear the likes of Benji Marshall say he’d be surprised if Johnson doesn’t win the Dally M this year.

“It’s nice to be spoken about at an elite level, instead of getting bagged or told to retire,” Johnson said.

“It’s nice, but it’s not why I play or it’s a goal of mine to win the Dally M.

“My goal is to win here as a team and playing my role in that. If I get recognised for how I’m doing my role within the team, then that’s nice and it is really nice to hear what people are saying, I’ve seen kids I’m inspiring out here.

“They’re holding up ‘Shaun for Dally M’ signs, they’re thinking about that stuff as a kid and that’s all I want to do.

“If I can inspire some kids to make that sign then get out there tomorrow and chuck a footy around, if that comes with it, then I’m all good with that.”

The win over the Tigers was another game where the Warriors didn’t play as well as expected, but Johnson felt getting another victory was the priority.

“I wanted two points and I’ve been around long enough to know that’s pretty hard to do in this competition,” Johnson said.

“To be honest, no week is perfect and there’s always going to be something you get wrong.

“There was more than one thing we didn’t get right, but at the end of the day we found a way to win and for me, that’s the most important thing at this time of year.”

Although it’s true what Johnson says about getting two points is more important than anything else, Warriors fans could be forgiven for being slightly worried if the team is still playing like this when they potentially meet the Broncos in the first week of the playoffs.

However, Johnson feels the team’s issues aren’t anything to do with how they can play, but more down to their mental application.

“I’m not concerned,” he said.

“It’s good that we’re aware and understand that a lot of it isn’t a skill, a physical skill that we need time on the training field to do.

“A lot of it is mental, those were mental lapses we had. We had inside shoulders and tries we hadn’t conceded this year.

“We don’t need to practice that, it’s individual accountability, lapses in concentration and understanding that no matter where sides are on the table, at this time of year you’ve got teams that are fighting for something, teams are fighting for everything.

“That’s how I thought they (Tigers) played. They were solid and played with some intent, which was a good test for us.”

Last month Johnson became a father for the second time, when his wife Kayla Johnson gave birth to their second daughter Sachi James Johnson.

Shaun said he has been able to get plenty of sleep as his young family welcomes a new member and thanked his wife for that.

“Kayla is holding it down, she’s been rock solid,” he said.

“She does a lot of the heavy lifting. I can’t complain at all.

“The handful is certainly Millah, the toddler. We probably realised that newborns aren’t what we remember them being, it’s so hard being a parent when you’ve got a toddler.

“Kayla has been amazing. Make sure you print that!”

Meanwhile, Wayde Egan, who went to hospital during the game after taking a blow to his neck, has been given the all clear and returned to Auckland late Saturday night.