Vitally for a sport living in the All Blacks’ shadow, he cut through to the wider New Zealand public because there was sheer magic in the way he could shred defences. He polarised fans, and timid New Zealand sport desperately needs that.
But Johnson’s Warriors never properly escaped the mid-table quicksand. They still can’t.
Psychology 101 suggests that we can influence our environment, which in turn operates back on us.
Was Johnson a major contributor to an erratic and woefully underperforming club, or did a poorly run organisation unduly affect his career?
Johnson could rise above the mess on his magic days, but he couldn’t clean it up. It wasn’t in his DNA.
While he could pull opponents apart, he couldn’t pull the strings minute by minute, half by half, game by game, season by season.
The best half in Warriors history, in my opinion, has been James Maloney, if the priority is trying to win titles and influencing those around you in the same direction. Significantly, Maloney is Australian.
James Maloney makes a break to score during the Warriors grand final run in 2011. Photo / Photosport
Sustained success is built around the mindset of players like Maloney and Cooper Cronk, the old Melbourne legend.
But it is very difficult for a player emerging out of New Zealand’s comparatively weak development system, and staying here, to take their game to that level.
You have to wonder what Johnson might have achieved had he started in the NRL under a coach like Melbourne maestro Craig Bellamy. The sky would have been the limit.
Benji Marshall, during a flash of stunning genius about two decades ago, led the Tigers to a title under veteran mentor Tim Sheens.
Neither player would have reached those heights had they been recruited into long-term Warriors careers.
Or as a coach once asked me rhetorically, would Sonny Bill Williams have been Sonny Bill Williams had he signed his first contract with the Warriors rather than the Bulldogs?
With international rugby league little more than a pretence, Johnson will be defined by his club career, spent almost entirely with the Auckland outfit.
