Christopher Lloyd Johnson (born 30 May 1976) is a former professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er. His career highlights as an

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) player include three premierships with Brisbane,

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

selection, captain of the Australian International Rules team and inclusion in the

Indigenous Team of the Century The Indigenous Team of the Century was selected in 2005 to recognise the role of Indigenous Australians in Australian rules football. Graham Farmer was named as the team's captain, while Barry Cable was selected as the team's coach. Eight of t ...

. Johnson was one of eight players to transfer to Brisbane when Fitzroy's AFL operations were taken over by the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

to form the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

and became the last Fitzroy Lion to play in the AFL. After retiring from playing professionally, Johnson started coaching and played and coached

Essendon District Football League The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a semi-professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competi ...

team Avondale Heights Football Club between 2010 and 2012. His son Lachlan Johnson was drafted to the Essendon Football Club in the 2019 rookie draft. He now plays for his junior club, Jacana.

Early life

Johnson grew up in Jacana, a northern suburb of Melbourne. He played for the Northern Under 18 side in the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

, including their 1993 Grand Final winning team, when he kicked 7 goals.

AFL career

Johnson began his professional AFL career with Fitzroy in 1994. He was awarded a nomination in the

1994 AFL Rising Star The Norwich AFL Rising Star award is given annually to a standout young player in the Australian Football League. The 1994 medal was won by player Chris Scott. Eligibility Every round, an Australian Football League The Australian Footba ...

award in round 21. He was one of eight players allowed to transfer to Brisbane when Fitzroy's AFL operations were taken over by the

to form the

. His career highlights include three premierships with Brisbane,

selection and inclusion in the

. Johnson is renowned for his creative play and composure running out of defence. Nevertheless, his 2007 preseason saw him playing as regularly in the forward line and the midfield as a defender, signalling the club's intention to use him as an impact player. Johnson was appointed co-captain of the Lions in 2007, alongside

Simon Black Simon Black (born 3 April 1979) is a former Australian rules football player and current assistant coach, who played his whole career with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Black was a midfielder with a reputation fo ...

, Luke Power, Jonathan Brown, and Nigel Lappin. On 31 August 2007, Johnson announced that he would retire from football at the end of the season. He was the last former Fitzroy Lion still playing in the AFL.

International rules series 2005

In the 2005

International Rules International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

series, Johnson was named co-captain along with

Andrew McLeod Andrew Luke McLeod (born 4 August 1976) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is the games record holder for Adelaide, having played 340 games. ...

. In the second game of the series, Johnson started a brawl by clothes line tackling (or "coat hanger") Philip Jordan and striking Mattie Forde. He was suspended for five matches after pleading guilty to striking, ruling him out until the second Test in 2008.

Coaching career

Following his AFL career, he remained involved in the game. He became a runner for the Brisbane Lions, appearing in Round 11 against Fremantle Dockers. Then he shifted into coaching. On Friday 14 September 2007, Johnson signed on with the club as a full-time development coach for the Brisbane Lions. His job is to continue to assist in the development of the club's young playing list in the new position and to show off field leadership. He was promoted to assistant coach to

Michael Voss Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears and Brisbane Lions, and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Voss was a tr ...

. He coached Brisbane school and AFL powerhouse St Peters Lutheran College for two years, posting a 10–0 record over his two-year tenure as the head coach for the opens team. They captured the 2007 and 2008 AIC AFL Premiership after defeating Iona College in the Grand Final on both occasions, before the competition was abandoned due to an increase of in game fights. In 2008, the school defeated Cairns school Djarragun College at the Gabba, before the Lions-Saints game, in an exhibition match to promote the AFL's indigenous round. In February 2009, Johnson coached the Indigenous All-Stars to victory against Adelaide in Darwin. In 2011 he was appointed the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

/AFL Level One Academy Coach.

Statistics

:Chris Johnson's player profile at AFL Tables
/ref> , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 17 , , 23 , , 19 , , 132 , , 71 , , 203 , , 49 , , 34 , , 1.4 , , 1.1 , , 7.8 , , 4.2 , , 11.9 , , 2.9 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 20 , , 25 , , 18 , , 142 , , 79 , , 221 , , 57 , , 42 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 7.1 , , 4.0 , , 11.1 , , 2.9 , , 2.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 22 , , 19 , , 15 , , 213 , , 176 , , 389 , , 76 , , 85 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 9.7 , , 8.0 , , 17.7 , , 3.5 , , 3.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 19 , , 11 , , 12 , , 160 , , 65 , , 225 , , 56 , , 33 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 8.4 , , 3.4 , , 11.8 , , 2.9 , , 1.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 14 , , 20 , , 14 , , 87 , , 46 , , 133 , , 42 , , 16 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , 6.2 , , 3.3 , , 9.5 , , 3.0 , , 1.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 20 , , 25 , , 14 , , 121 , , 52 , , 173 , , 55 , , 24 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 6.1 , , 2.6 , , 8.7 , , 2.8 , , 1.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 21 , , 6 , , 4 , , 159 , , 121 , , 280 , , 84 , , 24 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 7.6 , , 5.8 , , 13.3 , , 4.0 , , 1.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 21 , , 4 , , 9 , , 234 , , 137 , , 371 , , 105 , , 34 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 11.1 , , 6.5 , , 17.7 , , 5.0 , , 1.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 22 , , 7 , , 3 , , 203 , , 114 , , 317 , , 103 , , 47 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 9.2 , , 5.2 , , 14.4 , , 4.7 , , 2.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 21 , , 9 , , 2 , , 185 , , 126 , , 311 , , 91 , , 44 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 8.8 , , 6.0 , , 14.8 , , 4.3 , , 2.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 25 , , 3 , , 4 , , 221 , , 164 , , 385 , , 117 , , 51 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 8.8 , , 6.6 , , 15.4 , , 4.7 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 22 , , 6 , , 5 , , 243 , , 123 , , 366 , , 122 , , 48 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 11.0 , , 5.6 , , 16.6 , , 5.5 , , 2.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 8 , , 3 , , 1 , , 77 , , 38 , , 115 , , 34 , , 19 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 9.6 , , 4.8 , , 14.4 , , 4.3 , , 2.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 12 , , 11 , , 6 , , 91 , , 47 , , 138 , , 62 , , 25 , , 0.9 , , 0.5 , , 7.6 , , 3.9 , , 11.5 , , 5.2 , , 2.1 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 264 ! 172 ! 126 ! 2268 ! 1359 ! 3627 ! 1053 ! 526 ! 0.7 ! 0.5 ! 8.6 ! 5.1 ! 13.7 ! 4.0 ! 2.0

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Chris Australian rules footballers from Melbourne 1976 births Living people Brisbane Lions players Brisbane Lions premiership players Brisbane Lions captains Fitzroy Football Club players All-Australians (AFL) Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Northern Knights players Jacana Football Club players Australia international rules football team players VFL/AFL premiership players People from the City of Hume