WESTERN Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson says some home truths from coach Terry Wallace almost 30 years ago were the catalyst for his record-breaking career and have stuck with him in the three decades since.
Johnson is a club legend and the games record-holder at the Bulldogs, but the start of his career at the Whitten Oval did not go as smoothly as he had hoped.
Drafted with pick No.11 in 1993, Johnson had to juggle football and Year 12 in his first year and languished in the reserves for much of his debut season.
Despite being a highly-rated young player, he was struggling to even make an impact in the twos, which led to a career-shaping conversation with Wallace, the then reserves coach at the Dogs.
"I was really battling a bit and he goes, 'Look, I'd drop you but I've got nowhere to drop you to!," Johnson told The Inside Game in September. "'You're on the list, there's nowhere to go, I can't send you back to Hoppers Crossing'.
"That was probably the little switch I needed, that direct feedback. Five weeks later I played my first senior game.
"That was the first test for me in terms of responding to some really direct feedback in the footy environment."
Johnson says it wasn't just the honesty from Wallace that got the best out of him, but what the coach did next.
"He said that and then supported me through the next period to help build me back up as a player," he said.
"That taught me so many lessons, that one piece of feedback, (about) the support you show the person when you give the feedback and how you make them better for it.
"I played senior footy five weeks later and finished with nine (games) in my first year. It was a great introduction to the AFL world and those lessons lived with me throughout. And it's the early lessons you get that live with you through your career."
While Johnson took Wallace's feedback in his stride, he concedes the modern player is under a much harsher spotlight than he was during his career.
The six-time All Australian says the scrutiny from both within the football club and externally through social media is something that could have upset even his famously sunny disposition.
"(Social media) wasn't something that dominated the landscape like today," he says. "I'm glad I don't have to deal with that. I don't know how I'd go, to be perfectly honest.
"It's so tough to live a life in the AFL system because you're judged all the time internally. The minute you walk in the doors of your footy club, it starts. How are you feeling, you've got to fill out your wellness, you've got to fill out everything ... the coaches are looking at you, doing your first gym session for that day. Everything is judged consistently.
"And then you have the external pressure of trying to live a life on social media, where feedback is constant and instant. I don't know how I'd go with that.
"It'd be tough at times, no question."
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