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GVGjr
19-01-2024, 06:08 PM
Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson officially returns to Whitten Oval to help the club's forwards (https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/western-bulldogs-legend-brad-johnson-officially-returns-to-whitten-oval-to-help-the-clubs-forwards/news-story/1b9a485a2279d448e0441ca7134f7638)

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For the first time since his glittering 364-game career at the Bulldogs ended in 2010, Brad Johnson is back at the club in an official capacity. Get the exclusive details here.

Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson has secretly returned to Whitten Oval for the first time since his glittering 364-game career ended in 2010.

While Johnson has held small administration roles in previous years working with coterie groups, this masthead can exclusively reveal the AFL Hall of Famer has signed on to help the club's forwards hone their goalkicking craft.

Chief executive Ameet Bains declared in October that a goalkicking coach (would) be appointed in the near future.

But it is understood Johnson has instead joined as a consultant rather than as a specialist coach on Luke Beveridge's panel.

Johnson's duties will predominantly be on working with players, rather than attending inner sanctum or sensitive team meetings or having a role on gameday.

Multiple club sources and players confirmed the 47-year-old started attending training late last year after the club finished 2023 kicking itself for failing to qualify for finals for the first time since 2018.

They expected Johnson's goalkicking services would extend throughout the entire 2024 season but only sporadically rather than as a regular resource at training.

In 2023, the Dogs ranked 11th for shot at goal accuracy as the likes of Aaron Naughton, Rory Lobb and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan came under fire for some of their misses.

Premier Collingwood ranked No.1 while the Dogs were 12th for set-shot accuracy.

Budding superstar Ugle-Hagan was the third-worst ranked shot at goal from the 108 players who took a minimum of 30 shots last season.

Ugle-Hagan converted 35.35 from 93 attempts (37.6 per cent).

Sharpshooter Cody Weightman (34.18 from 59 shots) was the only Bulldog to record an accuracy higher than 50 per cent.

Weightman's 57.6 per cent ranked No.26 in the AFL, with North Melbourne's Nick Larkey (71 per cent) and Melbourne's Jacob van Rooyen (70) leading the competition

DOGS 2023 SHOT AT GOAL ACCURACY
Shots Goals Accuracy AFL Rank
Cody Weightman 59 34 57.6% 26th
Aaron Naughton 88 44 50% 59th
Rory Lobb 48 24 50% 59th
Marcus Bontempelli 38 19 50% 59th
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan 93 35 37.6% 106th

Wayward goalkicking was a critical factor for the Dogs in their mid-season defeats against Gold Coast and Geelong, as well as the inexcusable loss at home to wooden-spooner West Coast in round 23.

Johnson boasts one of the best Bulldog resumes of all time. He was a six-time All-Australian (named captain in 2006), five-time club leading goalkicker and three-time best-and-fairest winner.

Johnson also captained the club from early 2006-2010. The Team of the Century member's 364 games remains a club record and ranks 13th overall in VFL-AFL history.

The Fox Footy star and respected media face has held a variety of football and on-air roles since his career ended, but this endeavour marks the first time he has returned to his spiritual home in any sort of on-field capacity.

In 2011-12, Johnson worked as an assistant coach at the AFL Academy and then became its head coach in 2013.

Johnson was signed as a specialist forwards coach at Geelong during the 2017 pre-season and still resides beachside down the highway.

Johnson was also on St Kilda's coaching selection panel that appointed Scott Watters for the 2012 season.

The Dogs have trumpeted multiple off-field appointments since the season ended, but it is understood they had hoped to keep Johnson's return under wraps and he has not been sighted in any social media posts.

They have announced the signings of coaching and performance manager Matt Egan, backline coach Daniel Pratt, development and leadership coach Jarryn Geary, development coach Alex Johnson, fitness boss Daniel Duvnjak-Zaknich as well as chief medical officer Dr Anthony Hipsley.

President Kylie Watson-Wheeler also announced that veteran administrator Peter Jackson would conduct an external review and that former Australian Grand Prix boss Andrew Westacott would join the board of directors.

But there has been no official word on Johnson joining.

The pint-sized spearhead recorded a shot-at-goal accuracy of 55.7 per cent from 2002-10.

According to Champion Data, that ranked 20th of the top 50 players for total shots during that period of time.

Johnson's close mate Rohan Smith was part of last year's bloodshed at the Dogs.

Smith gave almost 30 years of service to the Bulldogs, but was let go as backline coach in a decision that an emotional Beveridge did not appear to agree with.

Smith had forged close personal relationships with several superstars, including heart-and-soul midfielder Tom Liberatore.

Track watchers at the Bulldogs continue to be buoyed by No.6 pick Ryley Sanders, who is already starting to match Liberatore in contested drills.

The midfielder, who turns 19 on Sunday, is considered a strong chance to make his AFL debut in round 1.

Originally published as Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson officially returns to Whitten Oval to help the club?s forwards

EasternWest
19-01-2024, 06:18 PM
First rule: No golf carts.

The bulldog tragician
19-01-2024, 06:57 PM
If Jono was “pint-sized” what on earth was Libba The First??

straightouttafinals
19-01-2024, 07:13 PM
Interesting appointment. Hope we do find a bloke to do it full time, but good to hear we're making strides toward this issue.

D Mitchell
19-01-2024, 07:24 PM
Gee, we've had former players who've come back to serve the Club, some good, some not so... A footy club needs enigmas and Johnno's an echidna

D Mitchell
19-01-2024, 07:34 PM
Interesting appointment...but good to hear we're making strides toward this issue.

Johnno was, is, great, love it that he's back at the Club both as a former, less than appreciated footballer and a quirky character. I'm still to be persuaded that it's kicking accuracy that's been and is the problem. Footy clubs are about winning but more than that, character. Johnno missed the former but has plenty of the latter.

ledge
19-01-2024, 08:03 PM
Johnno was, is, great, love it that he's back at the Club both as a former, less than appreciated footballer and a quirky character. I'm still to be persuaded that it's kicking accuracy that's been and is the problem. Footy clubs are about winning but more than that, character. Johnno missed the former but has plenty of the latter.

Johnno was at Geelong pretty much doing the same thing last year or the year before.

D Mitchell
19-01-2024, 08:21 PM
Johnno was at Geelong pretty much doing the same thing last year or the year before.

"same thing" ? Life isn't a comic book, L. Well, if you have grand children, maybe life is a Spiderman comic. I'm similarly skeptically that Johnno will disprove truths. Let's see.

Grantysghost
19-01-2024, 08:41 PM
Great stuff. Love Johnno.

He knew where the goals were..

EasternWest
19-01-2024, 08:53 PM
Great stuff. Love Johnno.

He knew where the goals were..

Also a master of the art of "pulling a pained face to make it look like I'm chasing really hard".

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
19-01-2024, 08:57 PM
Interesting appointment. Hope we do find a bloke to do it full time, but good to hear we're making strides toward this issue.

Agree SOF, I'm a bit puzzled as to why we haven't filled this as a more involved position with regular sessions with players to ingrain any technical changes.
Having only 1 of our forwards coming in at the very bottom of the Top Quartile of goal-kickers is a serious issue.

It has objectively negative influenced our season's fortunes in recent years, and I think any club role to address that needs to be more regular than how Johnno's appointment has been described.

Time will tell I guess, and I'm sure the club are not doing this without consideration, so I'm not disappointed, just a bit intrigued, given Ameet's previous statement about filling that role.

jeemak
19-01-2024, 09:49 PM
A bit like with golf, having a lesson and then practice sessions for a couple/ few weeks prior to the next one isn't a bad approach, especially given these guys aren't likely to need a full rebuild of their actions.

What should happen is the practice sessions be filmed and Johnno can review and send some feedback until he's back at the club for the next session.

Aside from that, I'm just glad something is being done and another excuse for poor performance or a stagnation in the fundamentals is being removed.

Grantysghost
19-01-2024, 10:07 PM
Also a master of the art of "pulling a pained face to make it look like I'm chasing really hard".

Ah yes, timeless classic along with pumping the arms fast.

jeemak
19-01-2024, 10:08 PM
It's the equivalent of looking frustrated or annoyed at work to seem busy.

D Mitchell
19-01-2024, 10:27 PM
First rule: No golf carts.

That's Rule no 2. The real 1 is no po....

I can't recall Johnno being particularly accurate but who wouldn't welcome old rosy cheeks back ? If the forwards continue to blaze away and miss, on the rare occasions that they do get control of the ball, then Johnno can be blamed then upgraded to Footy Record seller for the rest of his contract\;)

bornadog
19-01-2024, 10:41 PM
great news, a bulldog legend

jeemak
19-01-2024, 11:28 PM
That's Rule no 2. The real 1 is no po....

I can't recall Johnno being particularly accurate but who wouldn't welcome old rosy cheeks back ? If the forwards continue to blaze away and miss, on the rare occasions that they do get control of the ball, then Johnno can be blamed then upgraded to Footy Record seller for the rest of his contract\;)

He went at 55.7% in his time as a forward between 2002 and 2010 according to the article above.

ledge
19-01-2024, 11:47 PM
"same thing" ? Life isn't a comic book, L. Well, if you have grand children, maybe life is a Spiderman comic. I'm similarly skeptically that Johnno will disprove truths. Let's see.

Well that?s gone way over my head.

jeemak
20-01-2024, 12:16 AM
Well that?s gone way over my head.

Hahahaha, I can't believe you didn't get that Ledge!!!!!!*




*I didn't understand either.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
20-01-2024, 12:22 AM
He went at 55.7% in his time as a forward between 2002 and 2010 according to the article above.

And to be honest, I'm not necessarily convinced your conversion rate as a player is exclusively fundamental to being able to translate to being good goal-kicking coach.

I seem to recall Johnno at one time devised a test for assessing kicking accuracy amongst potential draftees? So I presume he has some affinity with and expertise with the bio mechanics of football skills in general. He's no doubt built on that more formally post playing career, too, given his prior engagement with Geelong and the AFL Academy.

The end result will tell us if this is going to tangibly address what is both a big, yet addressable, deficiency of ours.

Getting Cody pushing 60 plus% is what he should be aiming for.
If Naughts can just eliminate the howlers from 15 to 20 out in front that would be huge.

And it goes without saying that Jamarra just cannot keep going at 35%. I really hope 2023 was just an outlier against his usual goalkicking abilities, and not indicative of an embedded deficiency requiring significant long term remediation.

jeemak
20-01-2024, 07:52 AM
The goal kicking practice will help, but I want to see is us getting more shots from better positions as well.

This isn't researched, but, I feel because we play narrow or shallow to protect the outlet, more shots on goal that what might be ideal are outside of that 60-120 degree angle (if straight up the guts is 90) range that's best for conversion. We need to find a way to move the ball quicker and get ourselves to high percentage positions.

The likes of Cameron and Hawkins take a lot of shots from outside of that range, but they're awesome and natural kicks of the footy who really know how they're going to kick it eight out of ten times.

Olddog
20-01-2024, 08:15 AM
John no was one of the greats for the Dogs and hopefully he can help our forwards with their accuracy issues. Do remember though Johnny missing a couple of shots after the final siren that would have won the game

jeemak
20-01-2024, 08:41 AM
John no was one of the greats for the Dogs and hopefully he can help our forwards with their accuracy issues. Do remember though Johnny missing a couple of shots after the final siren that would have won the game

That end to end extravaganza vs. Geelong comes to mind, think it was 2009. If he had have settled and relaxed a bit it might have been different.

I also remember Johnno going through a phase of flat kicking it, albeit straight, and sometimes falling short or just clearing from around 40.

But it should be fine Olddog! At least it's something!

angelopetraglia
20-01-2024, 10:24 AM
Johno has infectious positive energy and is a Bulldog legend. This is great news.

Grantysghost
20-01-2024, 10:30 AM
The goal kicking practice will help, but I want to see is us getting more shots from better positions as well.

This isn't researched, but, I feel because we play narrow or shallow to protect the outlet, more shots on goal that what might be ideal are outside of that 60-120 degree angle (if straight up the guts is 90) range that's best for conversion. We need to find a way to move the ball quicker and get ourselves to high percentage positions.

The likes of Cameron and Hawkins take a lot of shots from outside of that range, but they're awesome and natural kicks of the footy who really know how they're going to kick it eight out of ten times.

Spot on Jee. It's overlooked in all of these stats. You really need to break the fifty down in sections.by degrees.
Its that double edged sword. Shallow entries in a central position are a dangerous play due to rebound strength.
So clearly teams want you to kick it there and this is where breaking lines in midfield allows those deeper, quicker entries.
I think our lack of speed in there can hurt.

SonofScray
20-01-2024, 06:35 PM
First session: shots after the siren To win the game.

angelopetraglia
21-01-2024, 11:46 AM
First session: shots after the siren To win the game.

Ha ....

Grantysghost
21-01-2024, 11:51 AM
First session: shots after the siren To win the game.

Second session : milestone games role play. Banners and all.

Eastdog
21-01-2024, 05:41 PM
It is an area that needs to be seriously addressed.

Johnno is a legend of the club and hopefully he can bring something to the table to help this situation.

I think it’s a bit of not getting good delivery to our forwards as well and of course not converting easy set shots.

Sedat
22-01-2024, 09:55 AM
First rule: No golf carts.
2nd rule: no training for after the siren shots

Sedat
22-01-2024, 09:56 AM
It's the equivalent of looking frustrated or annoyed at work to seem busy.
Good enough for Costanza, good enough for the rest of us.

SonofScray
22-01-2024, 11:06 PM
Second session : milestone games role play. Banners and all.

I went to Jimmy Rowes in Ascot Vale after that game with some mates to celebrate one of the great milestone games from our favourite player. I must have had too much to drink because I thought I?d quietly crawled through the window to get in when I was out of the house, but the morning unveiled a trail of destruction.

soupman
23-01-2024, 09:49 AM
Interesting appointment. Hope we do find a bloke to do it full time, but good to hear we're making strides toward this issue.

Is it a full time kind of job though? If ever there was a coaching role that would allow someone to only come to a session a week it is the goalkicking one.

Attend a session, run through some key pointers with the players, both individually and as a group, assign some homework then check on progress a week later.

ledge
23-01-2024, 10:14 AM
Is it a full time kind of job though? If ever there was a coaching role that would allow someone to only come to a session a week it is the goalkicking one.

Attend a session, run through some key pointers with the players, both individually and as a group, assign some homework then check on progress a week later.

Don’t think it’s ever been a Fulltime job at any club.