In a special summer series, Richmond Media is counting down the top 25 Tiger recruits from rival AFL clubs throughout the past five decades. Kane Johnson comes in today at No. 13.
Kane Johnson had already played in two premiership sides with the Adelaide Crows before he had turned 21 years of age.
Despite Johnson’s tender football years, he’d been a key member of a star-studded midfield group in Adelaide’s back-to-back flag triumphs of 1997-98 through his ball-getting ability and hard running.
Johnson had the second most disposals for the Crows in both of their Grand Final wins and was regarded as their second best player (behind Andrew McLeod) in the ’98 premiership-decider against North Melbourne.
After seven prosperous seasons at Adelaide, Johnson fulfilled his wish of returning to his home state of Victoria, joining Richmond during the 2002 trade period, in a complicated deal involving Tiger defender Jason Torney and an exchange of national draft picks.
Johnson was particularly pleased to get the opportunity to play for Richmond, as he’d barracked for the Tigers growing up.
From the time Johnson arrived at Tigerland, he had a strong influence on the playing group due to his leadership, professionalism, work ethic, football “smarts”, and successful AFL football background.
In Johnson’s 2003 debut season with the Club, he averaged 21.8 disposals per game in his 20 appearances and finished runner-up to Mark Coughlan in the Jack Dyer Medal.
He was second again in the Best and Fairest the following year, with his 19 games yielding him a highly-impressive average of 24.8 disposals per match.
Such was Johnson’s all-round impact in his first couple of years at Richmond that, at the end of the 2004 season, when Wayne Campbell stood down as captain, the Club had no hesitation in turning to him as the replacement skipper.
The added responsibility of the captaincy did not faze Johnson, as he produced another typically consistent season of league football in 2005, finishing seventh in the Best and Fairest.
Then, in season 2006, Johnson added another string to his bow, when he took on a run-with role. Each week, he was assigned the task of nullifying the opposition’s best midfielders – and he carried it out superbly.
Not only was Johnson so defensively effective, he still managed to win plenty of ball himself, averaging 17.3 disposals per game.
At the end of that season, Johnson was rewarded for his first-rate, disciplined on-field feats with the Jack Dyer Medal.
Johnson had another couple of productive years with the Tigers, averaging 20 disposals per game in 2007 and 23.9 disposals per game in 2008, before on-going knee problems prompted his retirement as a league player during the 2009 season.
He had provided Richmond with substantial value throughout a 116-game career at the Club.
