Re: Luis Johnson : Wed Jun 19, 2019 7:14 pm
Louis Johnson certainly looked to be a dead cert for the first team when we bought him. Last year he started off with 3 games for Rochdale, but then came back and played out the year with the U19's. I guess the alarm bells should have been ringing at that point because if he was performing at a high standard then he should have made an early appearance in the first team, gone out to a struggling SL team, or at the very least remained in the Championship. FWIW whenever I saw him in the U19's he didn't look particularly special and only managed one try in his 20 games. This year he went to Widnes on loan for a month but only played 1 game. Since mid April he has been a regular for Rochdale - I have not seen him play though.He certainly looks a fine athlete when he walks onto the pitch, and he did well to chase down Gildart in the game against Wigan, but if all aspects of his game were up to a high standard, then why has he not been given a chance of another game with the first team ? If a first year like Thewliss can be given a first team game at FB, then certainly Price could have easily made room for Johnson in the second row, a much easier position to hide a youngster.
So I suspect the answer is that Johnson has simply not done enough to warrant a game. And if we say he should be given a chance, we are betting our judgement against a professional RL coach who will have watched Johnson's performances and dissected his game. Not good odds surely ?