Belief and confidence are words that come up a lot with Jason Johannisen. 

The running defender won the Tony Liberatore Most Improved Player award at the 2015 Sutton Medal count, the 22 year old playing a crucial role alongside Bob Murphy, Matthew Boyd and Easton Wood in the Bulldogs back six in 2015.

This growth hasn’t come by accident, and Johannisen gives a lot of credit to Assistant Coach Rohan Smith, who he described as a ‘father figure’ when accepting the Tony Liberatore award in October.

“Since he’s been here he’s sort of taken me under his wing, he’s always got the time for me. 

“I really appreciate all he’s done for me in my first five years here.  I can’t wait to keep building our relationship and taking my footy to the next level with him.”

The thought of Johannisen taking his game to another level must send shivers down the collective spine of opposition coaches.  Johannisen averaged 19 disposals and 5 marks in 2015, and his blistering bursts off of half back were guaranteed to get both fans and broadcasters out of their seats.

But Johannisen’s game in 2015 was about much more than the running bounce down the wing (although he did rank seventh in the league on that stat last season), he was a critical member of a dour Bulldog backline who prided themselves on keeping opposing teams to the lowest score possible.

“Every week the main stat we looked at was points against and we wanted to keep dropping that number as low as we could.  I think we’ve gelled well and we just need to take it to the next level now.”

If Johannisen has his way, his fellow backmen may have to do at least a little of the work without him next season, with the 23-year-old eyeing off a spot in the midfield, or even up forward in 2016.

“There’s always something I can do better.  I think if I can become a more versatile player  and play in the midfield, and play up forward as well, that’s my goal for next year.

“I always tell Bevo ‘put me forward’, but we’ll see how we go.”