NZ rugby league legend Benji Marshall has rushed to the defence of former teammate and embattled NZ Warriors star Shaun Johnson over suggestions the struggling No.7 should hang up his boots.
Since returning to the club he spent his first eight years as a professional with, Johnson has been well below his best this season, unable to recapture the form that saw him become one of Cronulla Sharks' integral performers in 2019.
With the Warriors second-bottom on the NRL ladder and riding a seven-game losing streak, his lacklustre displays have drawn widespread criticism, with former Warriors coach Tony Kemp adding his voice to the chorus, suggesting it may be time for the 31-year-old, 12-year veteran to retire.
"I don’t see him seeing the year out," Kemp told SENZ radio. "I think he'll hang his boots up before the year's out."
But according to Marshall - who last year stepped away from the game after 19 seasons - Johnson has gas left in the tank and the Warriors' return to Mt Smart Stadium for their first home game in almost three years may be just the antidote.
After Saturday's heavy defeat to the Panthers, Johnson spoke about the impact of being away from his wife and daughter, and some quality family time could provide him a timely boost, Marshall added.
"I heard calls that he should think about retiring, that maybe he should think about his legacy and give it away," Marshall told Australia's Triple M radio. "I say 'shut up to that.
"Nobody can understand how hard it's been off the field for a lot of the Warriors players and especially Shaun, not having his wife and kids with him.
"I think once he finds peace with that, and gets back to his family and can reassess where he's at, that's up to him if he wants to retire or not.
"I don't think he has to go and, yeah, I'm done this season, but he's not done. If he wants it bad enough he can come back and do it."
After playing many of his 31 tests alongside Johnson, Marshall believes the once mercurial playmaker is being misused by the Warriors, where his true strengths as a player are being muted by the club's dependence on him to act as an on-field general.
"He's been taken to the Warriors to be a game manager… to put the side in good field position and just kick the footy, which has never been his strength," said the 2005 NRL Premiership winner.
"His strength is his running game and if I were there, I'd move him to five-eighth."
Johnson has signed a two-year deal with the Warriors, expiring at the end of the 2023 season, although the club may yet look to find an early way out of that deal.
"I just don't think that's fair," Marshall said. "If they are thinking about that, then maybe find a way to support the guy and bring out his best, because they're the ones who signed him."
The Warriors have a bye week, before their long-awaited homecoming game against Wests Tigers on July 3.
