Pathetic. Give him a get out of jail free card for errant behaviour because he did it tough as a kid.

There are lots of others who have had worse things happen in their lives and who still know how to discern between right and wrong and can own up to their own failings and be honest about admitting to them.

Maybe the kid should just grow up?

Get out of Jail??? he's done nothing wrong to warrant crap like this.. He just wasn't good enough for AFL. There's nothing more to it.

He goes on with his life.

Get out of Jail??? he's done nothing wrong to warrant crap like this.. He just wasn't good enough for AFL. There's nothing more to it.

He goes on with his life.

very much agreed with this post, i met him one, seemed like a top bloke, \

[censored] happens in life

As others have commented, the saddest thing about this episode is the bad blood formed between the club and a past great player and his family. Perhaps the family's expectations were too high for Chris. I always thought he was a marginal player at best and I wondered if he ever would have been drafted at all if his father was not Allan Johnson.

Alan was at the MFC best and fairest this year, so the rift may have been mended.

Chris was the last player offered a contract in 2008, and then that was only for 1 year and was seen not to be in Dean Baileys plans (read Daniel Bell this year playing for Casey all year with no chance for a MFC game, or Kyle Cheney who carved them up at Casey but only received token games). He would not have known if he was even going to get an offer so I suppose he was shopped around by his manager and was offered a 2 year deal at Carlton.

You do what you have to do for your future.

Good luck CJ for the future.

Get out of Jail??? he's done nothing wrong to warrant crap like this.. He just wasn't good enough for AFL. There's nothing more to it.

He goes on with his life.

You're right. He should get on with his life but the comments attributed to him indicate the opposite and the apology that he comes from a broken home is inadequate. The "get out of jail" comment is a metaphor for using excuses instead of facing up to the fact that he wasn't good enough for the AFL. That should not be a crime, even around here.

I don't think anything that CJ said was necessarily wrong, in fact he's very possibly right, but you just don't say it! Reeks of sour grapes and bignoting himself.

Yeah, silly thing to say indeed.

Even if the journalist asked him if he had been a scapegoat for the team's poor performance it's a poor answer.

Chris Johnson and others may well feel sorry for his current circumstances and the break between him (and possibly his father) and the club is regrettable. Alan Johnson was not just a Melbourne great he was a great bloke and I've previously shared a couple of stories here of the time when I met him through his association with a VAFA club.  

But if Chris or his supporters are upset at where his career sits at this particular time, then he should spare a thought for a former teammate who came to Carlton at the end of 2008 and was also delisted by the Blues this week.

During 2008 I was watching the progress of South Australia's Rhys O'Keeffe at the Under-18s championships. He was a dashing half back flanker/wingman who made the Under 18s All-Australian team and was named as South Australia's MVP. At that year's AFL National Draft the Blues got him late in the draft and I thought at the time that they had made a wonderful aquisition by selecting the running defender. 

O'Keefe only played a handful of games with the Bullants in 2009 before contracting osteitis pubis and ever since, he just couldn't get his body right.

No, I'm not suggesting for a minute that we try to recruit him but his story demonstrates that there's a fair element of luck in this game and I hope that CJ reflects on O'Keefe's situation a little more before he has his next whinge. I think he might even discover that his outburst was unjustified and in that realisation, become a better person for it.

Good post. i heard the interview on SEN. it may be some time before he comes to that realisation.

Yeah, silly thing to say indeed.

Even if the journalist asked him if he had been a scapegoat for the team's poor performance it's a poor answer.

I seem to remember that when he left the dees he said he was made out to be a scapegoat at the MFc, it seems to be something he says every time he is rejected, does anyone else remember him saying that when he left us

I seem to remember that when he left the dees he said he was made out to be a scapegoat at the MFc, it seems to be something he says every time he is rejected, does anyone else remember him saying that when he left us

I don't recall this but he shouldn't complain. He was in the system for seven years and was on the lists of two AFL clubs. True. he had injury issues over the years but he played less than fifty games. He and he alone, has to decide for himself whether his glass was half full or half empty.

I wish him and all players in his position the best for the future. Whether you're Chris Judd or Chris Johnson, if you reach the elite level in the game you have a role to fulfill and not every one can be a champion.