Cameron George: Warriors CEO on Shaun Johnson's retirement

How can the Warriors build the depth to fill the void left by the retiring Shaun Johnson? 

The 33-year-old halfback will finish at the end of this NRL season.  

Johnson has been an integral part of the club since debuting in 2011, helping the side to a grand final appearance that same year. 

Chief executive Cameron George says they've been preparing for this moment. 

He told Mike Hosking Johnson’s been thinking about it for a while now, and prefers to make these kinds of decisions while out on the field instead of while he’s off injured. 

George said that when the phone rang after Saturday’s game, he felt in his stomach that Johnson wasn’t going to press on.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What a ride it has been. Twenty eleven, a new
name arrives in top level league.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Johnson straightens up in suns. You'll need a enough ban
to work out for rint and he took of the twilight.
He was all over the place.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
If there hasn't been enough written about this young man already,
there'll be some more coming his way. Thirteen years on,
two hundred and sixty five games, nearly fifteen hundred points later,
Sean Johnson has announced his retirement all time record holding
point scorer for the Warriors. He leaves at the end
of the season. The Warriors CEO Cameron George is with us.
Cameron Morning, Good morning. How long has it been coming?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Look, he's been thinking about it for a little while now,
and then I've got a phone call on Saturday. He
spoke to Webby and give me a call and we
had a chat and yeah, He's the thing about Seane,
he likes to make a decision when he's on the field,
not when he's out injured. So I think he's been
waiting to get back to confirm it.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
So when the phone rings on Saturday, post the game
on Friday, let's not mention that. Do you think hang on,
this will be interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, yeah, I knew it was coming one way or another.
But when he rang Saturday, I thought to myself, well,
as I was picking up the phone, I felt in
my stomach that yeah, he wasn't going to press on
because I think he just would have waited to catch
up with us during the week to talk about next year.
But yeah, Saturday, he knew it was something and we

(01:22):
had a good chat and he's in a good headspace, Sean,
and hopefully now he can just go and enjoy the
rest of the year with his mates and the fans,
and he'll be remembered as one about best.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
And what did you say?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, look, you don't try and change their minds or
anything that'll put more pressure on them. I just they're
the ones that make the big decisions. And I was
just really supportive of where he's at, and I said, look,
my focus now is to celebrate your career and make
sure you're okay over the next month or so and
just enjoy it. So my roles used to be a
supportive one during this process.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Fantastic did the team play for him for the rest
of the season, get us and of the eight, get
us into the final and actually resurrect what is turning out,
Cameron to be a bit mess of a season.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, they're you know, they had a really good chat
yesterday the guys on the back of Sewn's announcement. Mate,
they're in the trenches and they're they're all in it together. Now.
They've got a lot to play for their fans is
the most important part. And now Sean's decision, and you know,
they're they're really focused now. So you start this work.
Was just got to go and win. And that's it, mate.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Good on you nus to catch up. Appreciate it. We'll
talk before the end of the season, Cameron George, the
Warriors CEO. When I say we'll talk before the end
of the season, during the playoffs, because this is this
is it's getting harder to say this is our year.
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