Paul A. Johnson (born 26 June 1984) is an

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 currently listed with the

East Perth Football Club The East Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Royals, is an Australian rules football club based in Leederville, Western Australia, current playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Formed in 1902 as the Unio ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL). He previously played senior matches with the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

, the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

, and the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

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), the

Swan Districts Football Club The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, Western Australia, ...

in the WAFL, and the

Sandringham Football Club The Sandringham Football Club, nicknamed the Zebras, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, Victoria, Sandringham. It currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the VFL Women's (VF ...

and the

Box Hill Football Club The Box Hill Hawks Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Box Hill, currently competing in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the VFL Women's (VFLW). Since 2000, Box Hill has had a reserves a ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). Johnson was the winner of the 2005

J. J. Liston Trophy The J. J. Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the Victorian Football League (VFL), which was formerly known as the Victorian Football Association (VFA). It is named after J. J. Liston, J.J. Liston, a busine ...

, as well as the 2012

Simpson Medal The Simpson Medal is an individual prize awarded for Australian rules football in Western Australia. The medal has been donated by Dr Fred Simpson and family since 1945. Simpson Medals are currently awarded to the following players: *The best pl ...

as the best player in an interstate match for

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 ...

Football career

Originally from the Australian state of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Johnson played under-18 football for the

Dandenong Stingrays The Dandenong Southern Stingrays are an Australian rules football team in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. 1992 saw the birth of the Southern Stingrays, developed under the leadership of Steve Kennedy (Regiona ...

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 ...

before being drafted by the West Coast Eagles with the 24th pick overall at the 2002 National draft. As part of West Coast's affiliation with WAFL clubs, Johnson was selected to play matches for the

. Making his debut for Swan Districts in the first round of the 2003 season, strong form playing mainly at

centre half-forward In Australian rules football, the centre half-forward is a position on the half-forward line of a football field. The directly opposing player is a centre half-back. Royce Hart of the Richmond Football Club and Wayne Carey of the North Melbou ...

led to Johnson making his debut for West Coast in round five of the 2003 season, in the

Western Derby The Western Derby () is the name given to the Australian rules football matches between the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, who both participate in the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW). As both teams are ba ...

match against . In the game, which was to be his only game for West Coast at AFL level, he recorded one disposal, a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

, and one tackle.Paul Johnson
– AFL Tables. Retrieved 26 May 2012. Having played a total of 32 games and kicked 41 goals over two seasons at Swan Districts without gaining another opportunity at AFL level, Johnson was traded to the Melbourne Football Club during the trading period at the end of the 2004 season, in exchange for the 29th pick in the National Draft. Making his debut for Melbourne in round seven of the 2005 season, against , Johnson played a total of eight games in his first season with the club, as a back-up ruckman behind Jeff White. However, he played 14 games for Melbourne's affiliate club in the VFL, Sandringham, and at the end of the season was awarded the

as the

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

player in the league, having tied with the

Tasmanian Devils The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now conf ...

Ian Callinan Ian David Francis Callinan (born 1 September 1937) is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. Education Born in Casino, New South Wales, Callinan was raised in Brisbane, Queenslan ...

on 16 votes, including five

best on ground Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

efforts. Johnson also played in the club's premiership win over

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the local government area of the City of Wyndham. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werrib ...

. He played two games for Melbourne early in the season, including a two-goal game against in round four, but missed the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury which required a shoulder reconstruction.Paul Johnson
– Demonwiki. Retrieved 26 May 2012. Johnson was used mainly as a second ruckman throughout his time at Melbourne, and was delisted at the end of the 2010 season having played a total of 68 games for the club. After his delisting in 2010, Johnson was asked to join Hawthorn's pre-season training squad as one of three players competing for an extra spot on the club's

rookie list The rookie list is a means for Australian Football League (AFL) clubs to maintain additional players outside the 38-man primary or senior list. Category B rookie-listed players are not eligible to play in AFL home-and-away or finals matches unle ...

. He was eventually selected to join the list, but was forced to miss eight weeks at the start of the season due to a stress fracture in his foot. Johnson was upgraded to Hawthorn's senior list in May 2011, after injuries to key position players and strong form for the club's affiliate in the VFL, Box Hill. He played his first and only game for Hawthorn against in round 24 of the 2011 season, becoming one of a small group of players to have played with three or more clubs. After being delisted at the end of the 2011 season, Johnson trained with Hawthorn in an attempt to again win a spot on the

, but was not selected. Following this, he was recruited by East Perth in the WAFL. In May 2012, he was named in the state squad for the match against the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

, and was later awarded the

as the best player on the ground for Western Australia. In the following years' state game, against the VFL, Johnson was named captain of the team.Paul Johnson Named WA Captain
– East Perth Football Club. Retrieved 24 June 2013.

References

External links

* * *
Melbourne Football Club player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Paul 1984 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Box Hill Football Club players Dandenong Stingrays players East Perth Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club players J. J. Liston Trophy winners Living people Melbourne Football Club players Sandringham Football Club players Swan Districts Football Club players West Coast Eagles players Casey Demons players

Football career

See also

References

External links