By Marcus Uhe
The familiar face of David Johnson will advance his coaching career from assistant to senior coach at Emerald in 2025, having agreed to replace premiership coach Sein Clearihan at the helm at Chandler Reserve.
Johnson joined the club ahead of the 2023 season and the fit was like a hand in a glove, with the dynamic key forward proving to be a crucial piece of the Bombers’ premiership puzzle, leading the forward line with 61 goals including six in the grand final to secure best-on-ground honours.
With Clearihan announcing in July that 2024 would be his last season at Bomberland, the seed was planted in Johnson’s mind to steer the ship into the future.
Since the decision, Johnson has been afforded further opportunities at training and on game day to take the reins, with Clearihan casting his watchful eye over the veteran as he learns the basics.
“Sein and I were chatting six or seven weeks ago about what our plans were for next year and he wanted to know if I was interested in coaching,” Johnson said.
“I said I was and it came to the decision where he decided he was going to take a step back and pushed me in the right direction to take over.
“I think the transition is really good – not too many people as a first time head coach get the likes of a Sein behind you to help out for five weeks.
“The way that he was running that team (last year) and had the respect from all the boys, he’d say ‘jump’ and they’d say ‘how high’.
“That was probably the reason we won the premiership last year because of the way Sein went about his stuff.”
Among Johnson’s steepest learning curves will be negotiating tough conversations with teammates he has quickly formed strong bonds with in the last 24 months.
Following being crowned as the best player on the ground in last year’s Division One grand final, the selfless Johnson invited injured teammate Noah van Haren onto the dais to accept the medal, having played such a key role in the club’s ascension but unavailable for selection on the biggest day of the year.
It’s been where Johnson identified one of the major areas of growth, and has already leaned on Clearihan for guidance.
“I don’t think anyone likes being dropped and I don’t think anyone likes dropping anyone, so I think it’s a conversation I’m going to have to have with all of the boys during the preseason,” he said.
“I’ve already spoken to them about the respect that I’m going for throughout my coaching career with them because we are friends, so I think that’s going to be tough to get my hear around early doors.
“It’s quite noticeable that I’m ‘My Nice Guy’ at the moment and Sein’s there to give me the tough decisions.
“He said ‘these are the decisions that you’re going to have to make in the future’ so he’s preparing me for all of those.”
With the handover now official, Johnson faces one of the biggest challenges any coach can on Saturday afternoon, and a brutal assignment in his first game at the helm, in a contest that will have a major say in what division of football they compete in next season.
Results need to fall the Bombers’ way, beginning with a win over Berwick Springs at home, to force a likely three-way tie for ninth place, between themselves, Gembrook Cockatoo and Pakenham.
Should that eventuate, tie breaker rules will break in the Bombers’ favour, and preserve their spot in the top flight for Johnson’s first season in charge.
There’s no avoiding the context surrounding the match and Johnson said he will simplify the approach as much as possible.
“I’m going to tell the boys that it’s a must-win game – no matter the results from the other games, if we win, that’s going to put us in the right stead to keep us up in Premier,” he said.
“All we have to do is play our best footy and knock off Berwick Springs, and let the rest work itself out.
“I think we’ve been competitive – if we beat Berwick Springs, that’s five wins, which is one win off playing finals last year in Premier.
“If we were to go down, hopefully we were to keep the majority of our playing list and I’d say we’d be certainly pushing for finals in first division again.”
Outgoing club president Mark Pedder has high hopes for Johnson in his new venture in the coach’s box, having forged such strong relationships during his short time at the club.
“The boys love him and he’s a natural leader,” Pedder said.
“The club will put some good people around him from being in the coach’s box on game day point-of-view.
“He’s a natural leader and a natural coach so I think he’ll be fantastic.”
A strong final quarter from the Bombers saw them push second-place Woori Yallock at home on Saturday in a 27-point loss.
The Tigers led by 30 points at half time but was outscored by Emerald in the second half in a performance that pleased in the incoming coach.
“It would have been easy for us to drop off and not have a crack in the last quarter but Sein and I put it on them and said ‘we can still get a fair bit out of this,’” Johnson said of the message at three-quarter-time.
“We spoke about wanting to run the ball and trying to slow their run down, because they are a very good team, and we did that.
“After the game, I know we hadn’t won, but the supporters were getting around us and the players were reasonably up and about after a loss, considering we put in a really good effort.”
