POTENTIAL Brisbane Lions father-son Lachlan Johnson, who is also eligible to join Essendon through its Next Generation Academy, has suffered a serious knee injury that will end his season.
Johnson, the son of three-time Lions premiership defender Chris, tore his anterior cruciate ligament playing school football for Scotch College last week in Melbourne.
He is set to undergo surgery, which will leave him sidelined for 12 months.
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It is a setback for Johnson, who loomed as a possible later selection at this year's NAB AFL Draft, and who has trained with the Lions at stages across the season.
"He hurt his knee playing school footy so he'll have an operation on that, and then he'll start some rehab and get himself back going, if that's for the end of next year or for the following season," Brisbane recruiting manager Stephen Conole told the Road to the Draft podcast.
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"He spent a week at our club in the school holidays and he's a fantastic young boy – he's always smiling and enthusiastic and looking to improve his footy and he's got some really high-end traits similar to his father."
Johnson has been a talking point this season, with clubs questioning why the son of the Lions great can also be tied to a rival club as a NGA prospect (due to his indigenous background) when he already has clear links to the game.
He played for the Calder Cannons last season before switching to the Oakleigh Chargers this year in the NAB League, where he's played five games this year, but was not on the list of 79 players to be invited to test at October's national draft Combine.
Lachlan Johnson celebrates a goal for the Cannons in 2018. Picture: AFL Photos
Conole said the fact the injury had occurred towards the end of the season meant Johnson had still been able to put forward his traits to clubs.
"With the ACL they tend to rehab them pretty well now with the boys. Most of the boys tend to get back to where they were reasonably quickly, so I'm sure Lachie will be looking to do that," he said.
"At least he's played the whole season, it's not as if he did it at the start of the year and missed the whole year. We've seen him play a lot, he's been up at the club and trained twice this year, so we've got a pretty good feel to where he sits.
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"It's obviously terribly disappointing for the young fella to have that injury, but at least he's gotten through the year which is a small positive."
Two Brisbane Academy prospects – Will Martyn and Noah Cumberland – have been invited to test at the national draft Combine, while Keidan Coleman, who was overlooked last year, has also attracted interest this season.
