SHAUN Johnson pledges his future to the Warriors, a suitor drops out of the race for Corey Norman’s signature and a rookie playmaker spurns the chance to claim Johnathan Thurston’s throne.

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JOHNSON’S PLEDGE TO WARRIORS

Not too many people know what it’s like to carry a nation on their shoulders but when it comes to rugby league, Shaun Johnson deals with that pressure every week in New Zealand.

Round 19

After a slow start to the season, the gun halfback has copped bucketloads of criticism, with Ryan Girdler and others urging the Warriors to drop him and give him “a kick up the bum”.

In an exclusive interview for Fox Sports show NRL Tonight, Johnson said he wouldn’t have it any other way, revealing his desire to play for the Warriors for life, rather than looking for an escape from the bubble.

Cowboys general manager of football Peter Parr joins Ben Ikin, Ben Glover and Nathan Ryan to pull back the curtain when it comes to recruiting and retaining NRL players.

“I’d love to be (a Warrior for life),” Johnson said.

“ ... At the end of the day, the Warriors is the club I grew up watching and wanting to play for.

“I just genuinely want to win a comp.

“ ... Going somewhere to an established club that’s got title, premiership tags all over them, it wouldn’t be as satisfying.

“I don’t think I’d have the connection.”

Johnson last came off contract in 2014, and at the time rejected significant offers from European rugby, as well as NRL rivals Penrith and Canterbury to ink a three-year deal with the Warriors. The Golden Boot winner is again a free agent at the end of 2017, and says his first preference again goes to the only club he’s ever known.

“I want to be a part of growing rugby league and changing the way we look at rugby league in New Zealand.

“I think the success of the Warriors, the Kiwis, that’s the only way to do it.

“So for me winning a comp with the Warriors that’s the pinnacle.

“Going somewhere else and winning a comp? That’d be cool but I just know what it’s like to be a Warriors supporter.

“ ... I might not get a say whether I stay or not. All I can do is look forward and play footy.”

NORMAN TOO PRICEY FOR ROOSTERS

Corey Norman is one of the most sought after players coming off contract at the end of this season but he has already priced himself out of a potential move to the Roosters.

The Australian NRL journalist Brent Read on Monday revealed to Triple M’s Rush Hour that Norman’s management had set an asking price of $800,000 per season for the Parramatta five-eighth and Reid said that “at that price (the Roosters) aren’t in the market”.

“If the price comes down a reasonable amount the Roosters may make a play for Corey Norman,” Read said.

Read said he expected the Eels to table a big deal in an effort to keep Norman but suggested the 25-year-old playmaker would have to think twice about staying due to the salary cap issues the club is still working through.

“Even if you’re Corey Norman and you get a big deal put on the table that includes some third-party payments, surely you’re a little bit wary about accepting the offer, given what’s going on at that club at the moment.”

MG DEMANDS CARTY SELECTION

NSW legend Andrew Johns has already called for Bryce Cartwright to be brought into the Blues’ 17 for this year’s series and that call has been strongly backed by Mark Geyer.

Speaking to Fox Sports chief NRL reporter James Hooper for NRL Tonight, the former Penrith hard man backed Cartwright to be the X-factor to turn NSW’s fortunes around.

“Bryce Cartwright and (James) Tedesco are the two players out of last weekend who I thought straight away they’re Origin-bound,” Geyer said.

“I think (Cartwright’s) a clutch player. There’s not too many players who want the ball in their hands as much as him as a 21-year-old.

“He’s six foot four. He’s 105kg. He can hold his own and his defence is getting better. His attack is the best for a forward in the competition and you’ve got to try to get into Queensland’s mind and think about who they don’t want to play against.

“And I know from Kevvy Walters and the Queensland side, they don’t want to play against Bryce Cartwright.”

ROOKIE PANTHER SNUBBED CHANCE TO BE JT’S HEIR

Penrith's Te Maire Martin in action. Source: News Corp Australia

Penrith’s Te Maire Martin has made a bright start to his career at the foot of the mountains this season, and in linking with the Panthers he turned down the chance to learn from the best in the business.

When Martin was off-contract at the Tigers last year the Cowboys approached the teenager with a chance to join the club as Johnathan Thurston’s eventual successor according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

But with Thurston planning to play on until 2018 and Michael Morgan similarly entrenched in the halves, Martin backed himself to earn a first grade spot elsewhere, and plumped for Penrith over the premiers.

“We had some interest there because we felt he was a guy who, in our system, could learn off JT and potentially help us in the halves when he decided to retire,” Cowboys football manager Peter Parr said.

“He saw that as a really attractive incentive. But at the end of the day I think he decided it was best he went to a club where he could get into the NRL sooner. He knew if both our halves were fit and well, he wouldn’t get the opportunity until JT decided to retire and there is no set date or year for that.

“IT ROCKED ME MORE THAN ANY LOSS”

Jharal Yow Yeh and Ben Hunt together in 2015. Photo: Paul Guy Source: News Corp Australia

Ben Hunt has had every man and his dog wondering out loud about that dropped ball in the 2015 grand final.

But the Broncos half says the career-ending injury suffered by former teammate Jharal Yow Yeh had more impact on him than any other moment he’s experienced on a footy field.

Hunt and Yow yeh came through the Broncos system together, and the star No. 7 played in what turned out to be his good mate’s final NRL game, when he suffered a horrific ankle fracture that ended his career at 22 in 2012.

“It rocked me more than any loss I’ve experienced,” Hunt told NRL.com.

“There’s always going to be more football to be played, but in Jharal’s case there wasn’t.

“He’s a great mate and to see him the way he was, it hurt. It got me down a bit, but Jharal being Jharal, he just wanted us to get on with it and keep playing our footy.

“It makes you realise how quick your career can be over. I remember coming through junior footy and they’d always say that you career could be over in a flash.

“You think that they are over-exaggerating but it really does happen. It can all be over really quick and it makes you realise how lucky you are.”

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