Shaun Johnson says he got into “the touch zone” before turning on his magic and using his final NRL play to lead the Warriors to a 30-28 win over Cronulla.
With the Warriors down 28-26 and Johnson in the final minute of his 268-game NRL career on Saturday, the Warriors scrum-half delivered a perfect two-man pass for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to score.
The play sealed a memorable victory, ending the Warriors’ nightmare season in style and capping a comeback that began with them down 22-4 at halftime.
The result means Cronulla look unlikely to get a home final, and could mathematically still miss out on the top four if beaten by Manly next week.
But the story Saturday night at PointsBet Stadium was Johnson against his former club.
The retired scrum-half started the game with a touch of Johnson’s old-school magic, before ending a personal nine-game losing streak in the final minute.
He helped open the scoring when he ran two drills outside, broke through the defense at midfield and passed inside to Luke Metcalf.
And when that 4-0 lead turned into a 22-4 deficit at halftime, Johnson was heavily involved in the comeback.
With Taine Tuaupiki a threat on the right edge and creating two tries himself, Johnson continually found ways to contribute.
He launched an early grubber kick for one of Watene-Zelezniak’s three tries, giving the flying winger space to run onto the ball and score.
Retired Kiwi champion Shaun Johnson is escorted off the field by his teammates after pulling off a great breakaway against Cronulla.
Johnson’s teammates performed the Haka to honour their retired captain and scrum-half.
Johnson also hit two shots from the sideline, helping give the Warriors a 26-22 lead with 13 minutes left.
And when the fairytale ending seemed dead after Sam Stonestreet put the Sharks back in front with nine minutes to play, Johnson refused to give up.
A Sharks error gave the Warriors one last chance to attack, before Johnson touched the ball on nearly every play of the series for the visitors.
He eventually got the decisive goal for Watene-Zelezniak’s third, thus crowning a magical career.
“It feels good. It feels great to finish that way,” Johnson said.
“Some of the guys told me you can’t finish with highlights. That’s what I was all about, it was as simple as enjoying what we were doing.”
With the game seemingly lost, Johnson came up with a late curling shot to seal victory for the Warriors against his former club, Cronulla.
Johnson and his family were able to say goodbye to home fans in Auckland last week.
Johnson was then rescued by his teammates, before being given a farewell haka by Warriors and Cronulla players.
“That feeling of being in the zone, where you know why you’re doing something and the look you want to create,” Johnson continued.
‘The fact that I was able to finish my degree at that time is probably the reason I feel happy.
“It wasn’t just a one-cut play. There were things that led up to that play to create that look.
“These are moments I know I’ll cherish. I can’t believe I played such a small part in all of this.”
It was an emotional night for Johnson, who spent many years wearing the shirts of both clubs.
For Cronulla, this loss could prove costly.
There were good signs from their attack in Nicho Hynes’ return from a broken ankle, and he and Braydon Trindall combined well.
Trindall played a part in the Sharks’ first two tries with perfectly timed passes to Teig Wilton and Kayal Iro.
Hynes was also able to send Tom Hazleton for a four-point shot as the Sharks crossed three times in a five-minute period before the break.
Trindall also proved influential late on, assisting Will Kennedy to put Stonestreet ahead late on before netting a crucial conversion from the byline.
But in the end Johnson’s magic triumphed, meaning Cronulla will now likely have to head to Melbourne to face the minor premiers in the first week of the finals.
“We played some good football, but we didn’t manage it well in the period that mattered,” Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon said.