VERSATILE Fremantle big man Michael Johnson enjoyed celebrating the career of Shaun McManus on Sunday night, but doesn’t want Jeff Farmer to follow the midfielder into retirement.
Johnson revelled in Sunday's Western Derby win over West Coast and took part in the subsequent celebrations in farewelling McManus, but with Peter Bell and Matthew Carr also calling it quits this season, Johnson hoped there wasn't any truth to the speculation mounting about Farmer's future at the club.
"I would love to see him play on," 23-year-old Johnson said on Monday.
"Jeff's a leader to all the Aboriginal boys at the club and all the other younger guys. I want him to stick around for a couple more years because I think he's a great leader on the field and a lot of guys look up to him.
"I haven’t spoken to him about his future, but the way I see it he will be playing on. If I ever have anything to talk about he's always there to back me up and he's like another brother to me."
The Fremantle players engaged in some team bonding on Sunday night in recognition of McManus' career and past and present players celebrated at a hotel owned by Matthew Pavlich and Paul Hasleby. Johnson said meeting some past greats of the club was an awesome experience.
"A few boys had a few drinks at the Seaview (Hotel) last night and all the past players and family of Shauny Mac rocked up. We all had a few beers for him and he looked like he was having fun. It was a good celebration for him and his family for the career he had and for the great bloke he is," he said.
"I met (ex-player) Peter Mann for the first time and had a chat to him. It was great to see all the past players come down for Shaun and it was great fun having a few beers with them to find out what the club was like in the early days."
While the derby win and farewelling McManus was a big occasion, Johnson is hoping Fremantle can go to Sydney this Saturday night and notch its fourth straight win against the Swans.
"All we want to do is go over there and give it our best shot to finish the season off on a high," he said.
"It was just a normal derby with the only difference being it was Shauny Mac's last game. We are treating this game exactly the same as the way we did to take on the Eagles."