Triple Brisbane premiership hero and Indigenous Team of the Century member Chris Johnson has paid Richmond’s valuable, versatile veteran Shane Edwards the ultimate compliment.
Johnson has compared Edwards to Hawthorn’s four-time flag champion Shaun Burgoyne.
He made his comments following Edwards’ brilliant performance in the Tigers’ qualifying final win against Brisbane at the Gabba last Saturday night.
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Edwards racked up 29 quality disposals (13 of them coming in an outstanding third-quarter blitz), with 18 contested possessions, eight clearances, took six marks, applied six tackles, kicked a goal and had 407 metres gained, prompting Johnson’s lavish praise.
“He reeks of ‘Shauny’ (Burgoyne) at times. He might not be as polished as Shaun, but he can play back or midfield and you just don’t see him waste too many disposals,” Johnson told the Herald Sun.
“He has been outstanding. Richmond have known for a long time what type of player he has been and what he means to them, but the general football public don’t see how valuable he is.
“He goes under the radar, but you just tell how telling his impact was in the third quarter (last Saturday night).
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“He has that ability to change the game with little bits of brilliance. He brings so many people into the game and in big games he has been able to stand up for Richmond.
“There is no doubt they look to him and look to inject him somewhere to give the players a spark.”
