Kane Johnson
By Chris Greenway

I didn't know an awful lot about Kane Johnson, other than he was a tough, highly regarded midfielder who had been able to play in 2 premierships for the Crows. In fact until the deal to bring him to Richmond had been finalised I didn't even know that he was originally from Victoria or that he had always barracked for the Tigers growing up. His first season with Richmond was a revelation for me. Tough, hard and skilled he was the midfielder we had dreamt of and when you combined his experience with the raw brilliance of Mark Coughlan I believed that the building blocks for a Brisbanesque midfield had been laid, it was no accident that they finished 1 2 in the B&F that year. Although Coughlan's groin injury kept him out of the side for most of 2004 Johnson's importance and presence in the midfield was not diminished and another 2nd placing in the B&F was evidence of that. The one criticism I have of Johnno is a tendency to turn the ball over unncessarily, but it is a problem he is working on and he's started 2005 off well with a string of solid performances in the pre season and being given the honour of captaining the side and wearing Captain Blood Jack Dyer's famous No 17 guernsey.