New Zealand Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson has revealed he almost didn’t sign with the club last season after coming close to accepting another offer.
With his future at Cronulla unclear in 2021, the star Kiwi was on the lookout for a new club when Canterbury came calling.
While the Bulldogs were wooden spooners last season, Johnson says he was drawn to the club for the chance to play alongside newly signed five-eighth Matt Burton in the halves.
Speaking on The Ice Project Podcast, Johnson said that he was “95 per cent” on the way to Belmore until then Warriors consultant Phil Gould stepped in.
“That (playing with Burton) was the drawcard,” Johnson said.
“I remember after playing the Panthers I pulled Matty Burton for a chat and said, ‘What do you think bro?’, and he said, ‘Yes, please come’.
“At that time, I was pretty much 95 per cent on the way (to Canterbury).
“I really loved what Trent Barrett was doing there, loved the group he was assembling. The time he showed me, we had some really good chats.”
With his mind all but set on the Bulldogs, Johnson says a trip home to New Zealand sparked a call with Warriors owner Mark Robinson before Gould convinced him to join the club.
“We had a game then we had a bye week, so the bubble was open and I said to Kayla let’s get home to NZ and see the family,” Johnson said.
“At that point, there was no conversation with the Warriors, I had the contract with the Bulldogs just trying to iron out (the deal).
“And then I got a call from Mark Robinson asking for a round of golf ... we just had a good chat and that led to conversations with Phil Gould, who was at the club at the time.”
Having played 162 games with the Warriors from 2011 to 2018, Johnson said there was some initial “awkwardness” that Gould’s influence helped him overcome.
“I think without Phil’s influence I don’t know if this would’ve happened,” Johnson explained.
“The way things ended (in 2018), there was that sort of awkwardness, a bit of unease, and we’d never smoothed that over with Cameron George, the CEO.
“Once Phil got involved he said, ‘You’re the best option for the club at this current time, do you think it can work?’.
“I was pretty much like, ‘Of course it can work. I’m not going to be that guy that holds on to something for my whole life’.
“From that point on it happened like that.... It just flowed from there. It really felt right.”
As a club legend, Johnson says coming home gave him a sense that he could “do something special”.
“Money is important but I’m at that age and point of my career where money wasn’t the priority,” Johnson said.
“The priority was coming back to an organisation that I felt could do something special.
“That was the priority and what excited me most.”
Ironically, Gould is now Canterbury’s general manager of football after leaving his Warriors post mid-season.
Johnson has signed a contract with the Warriors that will see him through until the end of the 2023 season.