Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy said after the hitout that Johnson, who has battled a foot injury during the pre-season but who played his first match on Friday, was not a walk-up start for the Bombers' first-round clash against Sydney at Telstra Dome on 1 April.
"Jason struggled a little bit today, I thought," Sheedy said.
"He might have to play in the VFL. I'm not sure yet."
But Sheedy was delighted with the performance of Neagle - the son of former Bomber and Swan Merv - who shone up forward.
"Young Neagle jumped out of the ground and kicked five goals and that's a pretty good effort by Jay," Sheedy said.
"I gave him about 40 minutes in Bendigo against Hawthorn, but that was a pretty good game by Jay Neagle today.
"He won't be in round one, but he's a pretty young person that's come into the club and it's his first pre-season and not many guys kick five in a practice match."
Sheedy also praised the performance of the versatile Dean Rioli, who played his first match of the season due to a knee injury. Sheedy said Rioli was definitely in the picture for round one.
"That's his best form (of the pre-season) for sure. He looked pretty good today," Sheedy said.
Rookies Matthew Firman, Ben Jolley and Tim O'Keefe also impressed Sheedy and he said any one of the trio could be in line to be upgraded onto the senior list during the year, due to the illness of Adam Ramanauskas.
Midfielder Brent Stanton came off early with what appeared to be a leg injury, but Sheedy played down his early exit from the field and said it was simply a "precaution".
Henry Slattery got a knock to his ankle and is a "50/50" proposition for round one, while Adam McPhee went off after getting "his head split open". He had a cut above his eye and required stitches.
Sheedy said about five spots were up for grabs for the opening round of the premiership season.
"I'd say that we won't be far away from our best 22 depending on what young guys make it into the side or come into the side in the first month," Sheedy said.
"I don't think you really get an idea of your best 22 sometime until about round eight, when you're starting to work out who's really played well in the firsts, in the VFL and also who's coming through pretty quick.
Sheedy said he was optimistic entering the season, but still a little unsure where his side is at. Overall, he believes it will be an even competition in 2006.
"I'm probably like most of the scribes out there at the moment. Some have got us in the eight and some have got us somewhere between eight and 11 and we're still probably wanting to know where we are ourselves," Sheedy said.
"Our form has been pretty good, steady over the last six weeks. We've got some pretty exciting young players coming through and I hope this year will be one of those years that can set us up for a good period.
"I think it's very open. It's more an open season than probably last year, I think."
