Back to his game-breaking best, Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson has credited an unlikely hero for helping him rediscover the form that once led to him being crowned the best player in the world.
During a fan day in Perth before the round-one clash with the South Sydney Rabittohs, he was approached by a young boy who had a simple question - but one Warriors fans can be grateful was asked.
"He said excuse me Shaun can I ask you a question," Johnson recalls.
"I said yeah mate of course. And he said 'how come you stopped stepping?' For whatever reason that really hit home for me."
It was a simple enough question but one that Johnson has since revealed stuck with him.
"I felt like I had let him down in a way and perhaps stopped inspiring. Stopped encouraging kids to just go out and have a run and that so I jotted that question down in my little book and went into round one with that in my head, and last week, and I will try to keep it going again this week," he said.
"I feel like I am at my best when I'm running the footy. I don't know who that kid was but, thank you."
The return of Johnson's running game is something new halves partner Blake Green wants to see more as the Telstra Premiership campaign rolls on.
"Whoever that kid was, send more because he looks great running it," Green said.
The Warriors' unbeaten start to the season has been built largely around the play of their two halves, and Green says although the combination is still very much developing, things were starting to click.
If the Warriors win on the road on Saturday against the Canberra Raiders, they will create club history – they have never started a season with three straight wins.
