BREAKOUT Collingwood forward Ashley Johnson might the perfect example of a player who enjoys a longer AFL career because of the winding road they took to get there.
After playing in three different states over seven years – for at least five different clubs – Johnson arrived in the AFL last year as a 23-year-old when he was snapped up in the NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft.
The explosive goalkicker from Halls Creek in remote Western Australia has truly arrived in the past month, however, kicking 10 goals in four games and playing a match-winning role against Melbourne last Friday night.
For those who have coached Johnson along his path to the AFL, his recent rise has brought great satisfaction knowing the long road the 24-year-old has taken, starting with Claremont's WAFL colts team in 2014.
Coach Ross McQueen welcomed the rangy half-forward back then alongside several talented youngsters from the Kimberley, including Johnson's cousin Samo Petrevski-Seton.
"I've followed him since, and it is a great journey," McQueen told AFL.com.au.
"He played then like he does now, with a really good set of hands and long arms to mark the ball at a high point.
"The difficult thing about football pathways though is that there's so much pressure on kids getting drafted in their 18th year.
"If they don't, a lot of them don't continue with their football, so I was rapt for Ash to get there.
"He's had to work hard, and to his credit he's done it his way."
McQueen remembers Johnson as a forward who had the potential to be a WAFL league player but wasn't ready at that stage to join others on the path to the top level.
After two years with the Tigers, he headed back to Halls Creek with brother Shane McAdam rather than taking up the option of a third colts season as a 19-year-old.
The next three years saw him join North Wangaratta in country Victoria in 2017, Scotch Old Collegians in the Adelaide Football League in 2018 and the Crows' SANFL side as a top-up player in 2019.
Sturt coach and former Adelaide and Sydney defender Martin Mattner was first in touch with Johnson at the end of 2018 with a view to convincing the forward to play alongside his brother McAdam at the Double Blues.
"I watched a bit of vision of his footy from Scotch, then the first time I saw him live was at Sturt," Mattner told AFL.com.au.
"You could tell that he had the talent to play at AFL level and he was like Shane in that they just have this different way with their footy. They have speed, agility, athleticism, goal sense and forward craft.
"They have also done really well at whatever the next level is. They went from amateur league and playing really well there, to SANFL and playing really well there, to AFL and playing really well there.
"So I think he's the type of player who likes the challenge of standing up at the next level."
Mattner, who has stayed in touch with Johnson and watched his four-goal performance against the Demons with a smile, agrees the forward's unconventional path to the AFL could well be the making of him as a player.
Seeing McAdam get an AFL opportunity with Adelaide was the spur to put everything into reaching the top level, however, with Collingwood picking up quickly on the glimpses he was showing at SANFL level.
The Magpies' Adelaide-based recruiter, Brett Leonard, first watched him play and recruiting manager Derek Hine made multiple trips across from Victoria to get his own look at the forward.
"You could certainly see the scope as far as the way he jumped at the ball and his aerial prowess," Hine to AFL.com.au's Road to the Draft podcast this week.
"I wouldn't say he was an aerobic animal, but he's really improved that phase and I'd be lying if I said he wasn't one of my favourites.
"He's always got a smile on his face, and he just enjoys the moment and thrives in the moment. We've obviously seen that in the last few weeks."
Johnson was eventually snapped up with pick No.3 in the 2021 NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft, following North Melbourne ruckman Jacob Edwards and Hawthorn midfielder Jai Newcombe.
Perhaps strangely, one of the more important moments in his short time in the AFL was the hamstring injury he suffered early this year, sidelining him for more than two months.
Robbed of the opportunity to push for a senior debut while coming out of contract, it instead gave him the chance to prove he had the professional capacity as well as the talent to be an AFL player.
"I think that almost set him up for where he is now," Johnson's manager, Julian Petracca, told AFL.com.au.
"Jordan Roughead and Charlie Dean mentored him a bit, and the feedback from the club was that he was first class with his rehab and really attacked it.
"We had some conversations in the background just to say that you are out of contract and you're not playing, but you can still show the club that you're a professional athlete, and that's what he did.
"He ticked that box even before debuting and showed the club that he had it in him to make the next step."
A senior debut came in round 18, against McAdam's Crows, with Johnson holding his spot after two goals and quickly becoming an important part of the attacking mix for coach Craig McRae.
Johnson joy as first-gamer snags first goal
Ash Johnson is surrounded by Pies after landing his first AFL goal on debut
A one-year extension for 2023 came last month, and Petracca says Johnson is loving life now as an AFL player, having only "scratched the surface of where he can get to".
Remembered in Halls Creek as a respectful and kind youngster with a big smile, those who have coached or guided Johnson along the way are seeing the same personality coming through in his football.
"I saw him interviewed the other night and I thought he hasn't changed much at all," McQueen said.
"He loved his footy, was always close to his mates and family, and was really coachable and easy to get along with.
"It's been a long journey, but for some players it just takes that long. I don't think too much is going faze him.”
