GEELONG star Steve Johnson won’t play against Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday night, still to serve the final week of a two-week ban, while Paul Chapman remains on the sidelines through injury.
Johnson was cited by the Match Review Panel for a high hit on Brisbane’s Pearce Hanley in his side’s shock loss to the Lions in Round 13.
The enigmatic Cats utility elected to challenge his penalty at the AFL Tribunal last Tuesday night, but was unsuccessful and thus missed last Saturday night’s win over Fremantle and the blockbuster against the Hawks this weekend.
Interestingly, Johnson also missed the Round 1 clash between the two sides through suspension.
The 29 year old is a key player for Geelong, with his elite skills, aerobic capacity and freakish ability around goals allowing him to have an impact in any position, be it in the midfield or as a stay at home forward.
He is ranked number one at the club for disposals (average of 28.4), number two for total clearances and centre clearances with 4.8 and 2.0 (behind Joel Selwood). He’s also ranked third for tackle average but interestingly, has kicked just eight goals this season in nine games.
Unfortunately for the Cats, Johnson loves playing against Hawthorn.
He averages 20.14 against the Hawks in 14 matches. That’s his fourth highest disposal average against any team in the competition, with the top two spots occupied by expansion clubs Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney (the other club is Richmond with 20.15 disposals).
He also averages 1.7 goals per game (24 in total) in his 14 meetings with Hawthorn, having kicked only more goals against Essendon and West Coast in the same number of games – 30 and 28 respectively.
He has polled six Brownlow votes against the Hawks, second only to his nine against Brisbane.
Chapman hasn't played since Round 4, with a hamstring injury derailing his season so far.