Jason Johannisen (born 8 November 1992) is a South African–born 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 who plays for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

in the

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). At tall and , he plays as a running half-back who can move up forward. Johannisen was selected by the with the 39th selection in the 2011 rookie draft. In 2016, he became an AFL premiership player after helping the Bulldogs win the Grand Final behind his

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the grand final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990, the competition was known as the Victorian Footbal ...

performance. As of the end of season 2024, he has polled a total of 25

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

votes in his career.

Early life

Johannisen was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa, to mother Sonya from

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and father Eldrid from

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

.Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/2217703 Accessed 14 June 2023 The family moved to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, in 2000 when Johannisen was eight years old. Johannisen played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

with the Southern Lions Rugby Club in Perth as a junior before switching codes to Australian rules at the age of 15. He played his senior football with

East Fremantle East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

Career

Johannisen was recruited by the

in the 2011 Rookie Draft, with pick #39, and made his debut in Round 19 of the

2012 AFL season The 2012 AFL season was the 116th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured eighteen clubs, with addition of the newly established Greater ...

against at

Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...

. Johannisen was adjudged best afield in the Western Bulldogs'

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

victory over the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

; he recorded 25 kicks among 33 disposals and 7 marks to win the

. In July 2017, he signed a five-year contract extension with Bulldogs. Johannisen missed nine weeks in the middle of the 2023 season with hamstring tendon damage, returning for two games before a calf injury ruled him out of the remainder of the season. He then didn't play post-round nine in 2024 after he suffered a moderate-grade hamstring strain. During the 2025 pre-season, he suffered a hamstring strain at training and subsequently underwent surgery. He overcame the hamstring injury in time for round five selection.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of Round 8 2021'' , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , 39 , , 3 , , 1 , , 0 , , 29 , , 20 , , 49 , , 9 , , 3 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 9.7 , , 6.7 , , 16.3 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , 39 , , 13 , , 2 , , 4 , , 138 , , 70 , , 208 , , 40 , , 19 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 10.6 , , 5.4 , , 16.0 , , 3.1 , , 1.5 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , 39 , , 11 , , 2 , , 4 , , 111 , , 67 , , 178 , , 42 , , 26 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 10.1 , , 6.1 , , 16.2 , , 3.8 , , 2.4 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , 39 , , 20 , , 7 , , 3 , , 270 , , 128 , , 398 , , 107 , , 35 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 13.5 , , 6.4 , , 19.9 , , 5.4 , , 1.8 , , 4 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

^# , , 39 , , 17 , , 6 , , 8 , , 283 , , 130 , , 413 , , 112 , , 37 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 16.6 , , 7.6 , , 24.3 , , 6.6 , , 2.2 , , 10 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , 39 , , 20 , , 10 , , 12 , , 258 , , 171 , , 429 , , 58 , , 41 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 12.9 , , 8.6 , , 21.5 , , 2.9 , , 2.1 , , 7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , 39 , , 22 , , 7 , , 10 , , 277 , , 187 , , 464 , , 89 , , 47 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 12.6 , , 8.5 , , 21.1 , , 4.0 , , 2.1 , , 3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , 39 , , 20 , , 6 , , 6 , , 285 , , 152 , , 437 , , 83 , , 44 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 14.3 , , 7.6 , , 21.9 , , 4.2 , , 2.2 , , 1 , - , scope=row ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , 39 , , 17 , , 6 , , 5 , , 165 , , 102 , , 267 , , 65 , , 29 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 9.7 , , 6.0 , , 15.7 , , 3.8 , , 1.7 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , 39 , , 25 , , 15 , , 10 , , 152 , , 99 , , 251 , , 67 , , 41 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 6.1 , , 4.0 , , 10.0 , , 2.7 , , 1.6 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, , 39 , , 7 , , 6 , , 4 , , 50 , , 32 , , 82 , , 28 , , 11 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 7.1 , , 4.6 , , 11.7 , , 4.0 , , 1.6 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 175 ! 68 ! 68 ! 2018 ! 1158 ! 3176 ! 701 ! 333 ! 0.4 ! 0.4 ! 11.5 ! 6.6 ! 18.2 ! 4.0 ! 1.9 ! 25 Notes

Honours and achievements

AFL *Team **

AFL premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1989, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

*Individual **

** Tony Liberatore Most Improved Award: 2015 VFL *Team ** VFL premiership: 2014

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johannisen, Jason 1992 births VFL/AFL players born outside Australia Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Living people Norm Smith Medal winners South African emigrants to Australia Western Bulldogs players Western Bulldogs premiership players Williamstown Football Club players Sportspeople from Johannesburg VFL/AFL premiership players Coloureds 21st-century Australian sportsmen