TonyK
CibbuanoJohnson may wait for milestone
June 21st 2008 01:31
FORMER Essendon star Mark Johnson may be forced to wait to play his 200th AFL game with Fremantle coach Mark Harvey refusing to guarantee that he would be selected to play against his old club at Subiaco Oval next weekend.
The Dockers are languishing in 14th place on the AFL ladder with a 2-11 win-loss record, and Harvey said there was no room for sentiment at the selection table.
Johnson had 11 touches and six tackles in Fremantle's eight-point loss to St Kilda at Telstra Dome on Friday night but Harvey said he was no certainty to play next weekend.
"You don't guarantee anything when you don't regularly win," he said.
"It's not about supporting Mark Johnson, it's about trying to evolve your team. That's how I see it. Yeah, sure it's good to see players play milestone games but in the end they've got to earn it, not at the expense of the team."
Harvey said the Dockers again faltered under pressure when the game was on the line and had failed to counter St Kilda's flooding tactics.
"They wanted to play tempo football and then flood. We couldn't pierce that," he said.
Harvey said some of the senior players needed to show more leadership in such situations.
"I was happy with the way our younger players played," he said.
"Sometimes we've got to show more poise and some senior guys in those circumstances can show better direction and create better options for when we go inside our forward 50."
"It's just giving direction at the right time. Sometimes when you've got a team-mate and you haven't got the ball you need to tell your team-mate who has got the ball what's a better option."
The Dockers are languishing in 14th place on the AFL ladder with a 2-11 win-loss record, and Harvey said there was no room for sentiment at the selection table.
Johnson had 11 touches and six tackles in Fremantle's eight-point loss to St Kilda at Telstra Dome on Friday night but Harvey said he was no certainty to play next weekend.
"You don't guarantee anything when you don't regularly win," he said.
"It's not about supporting Mark Johnson, it's about trying to evolve your team. That's how I see it. Yeah, sure it's good to see players play milestone games but in the end they've got to earn it, not at the expense of the team."
Harvey said the Dockers again faltered under pressure when the game was on the line and had failed to counter St Kilda's flooding tactics.
"They wanted to play tempo football and then flood. We couldn't pierce that," he said.
Harvey said some of the senior players needed to show more leadership in such situations.
"I was happy with the way our younger players played," he said.
"Sometimes we've got to show more poise and some senior guys in those circumstances can show better direction and create better options for when we go inside our forward 50."
"It's just giving direction at the right time. Sometimes when you've got a team-mate and you haven't got the ball you need to tell your team-mate who has got the ball what's a better option."
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