THE true mark of greatness in the AFL is an ability to perform in the big games.

On two occasions, Steve Johnson kicked four goals in Grand Finals – the first (2007) and last (2011) of the four in which he played.

But in the latest In The Game with Damian Barrett, Johnson reveals the disappointment of losing the 2008 Grand Final and of failing to have personal impact in the win of 2009 remain as vivid as the highs. 

So powerful were his reflections of the 2009 match, where a hip injury and St Kilda's Stevie Baker conspired to shut him down in the Cats' narrow win, that they drove Johnson to play in 2011 - against the odds and with a knee injury that would have normally kept him out for six weeks.

An umpire keeps a close eye on Steve Baker and Steve Johnson in 2010. Picture AFL Photos

"That was a huge driving force to play well in 2011, I'd thought about it a lot; I was so happy we won (in 2009) but there was a level of guilt that I could have cost the team," Johnson told In The Game.

The wins for Johnson in Grand Finals were 2007 (against Port Adelaide, where he won the Norm Smith Medal), 2009 (St Kilda) and 2011 (Collingwood), and the loss was in 2008 against Hawthorn.

The 2009 match and the ensuing Cats-Saints home and away game the following season are ones he will never forget. 

"(Baker) got the better of me and he had some tactics I had never experienced before," Johnson said.

"I was already battling with the hip, then Stevie Baker started rubbing his stops down the back of my legs, tore 'em to shreds, and started punching me at the back of the elbows.

"… there was broken skin, there was blood coming out my calves. He had sharpened his stops up on something the night before.

"He also had a tactic where he would belt the back of my elbows, somewhere near the funny bone, and if you hit it hard enough, you'd have no feeling in your hands.

"I didn't touch the ball early, and I had no feelings in my hands, I just dropped the ball, and at one stage I felt I didn’t want to go near the ball.

"Those tactics were interesting. He was in my head, and I never let anything ever get in my head … that day was a pretty lonely place out on the MCG."

The return game was as controversial as any played in the modern era. 

"(The) rematch the next season … he was straight back at it," Johnson said.

"Early in the game I broke my hand on Brendon Goddard's boot. I did get him a couple of times early in that game, which the cameras didn't catch.

"Then I broke my hand and I was rubbing it, and he started punching it. My hand had blown right up.

"I had gone into the doctor and he said I'd definitely broken the bone in my hand and it would need to be operated on. I asked how long I'd be out for, he said about three weeks and I said, OK, what can you do to get me out there?

"I had a free hit, three weeks, I couldn't go further than three. It couldn't be a king hit but I could land a decent one on him. It could be left hand or right elbow, or left elbow, but no right hand.

"When the ball went over our heads at one stage I just turned and gave him the biggest right elbow of all time.

"He went down for a little bit and I still can't believe how he got up, which shows what a tough bastard he was."

Baker was suspended for nine weeks, Johnson three.

For the full Johnson interview on In The Game ...

Find In the Game on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify

Episode guide

1:12 – Being part of Grand Final week 

2:58 – 'We were bloody hungry': Johnson's favourite Grand Final win

6:00 – Struggling to walk: The knee injury for the 2011 Grand Final

7:08 – 'I felt a level of guilt' in the 2009 Grand Final

8:14 – Chris Scott's hotel visit pre-game in 2011

9:51 – 'I don't care if I never play footy again' mindset to win a flag

12:24 – Kicking four goals on the biggest stage

14:10 – Podsiadly injury and the emergence of Hawkins

15:27 – Why the 2009 Grand Final played on Johnson's mind

16:06 – 'He tore them to shreds': Steven Baker's tactics

17:54 – 'I did get him a couple of times': The Steven Baker re-match

20:08 – Do you respect Steven Baker? 

20:43 – Baker 'admitted' to sharpening his boot studs

21:14 – Being unprepared for the Hawthorn tactics in the 2008 Grand Final

23:54 – The reasons why the Cats failed in 2008

25:37 – A drought-breaker: Winning the 2007 Grand Final

28:30 – 'Don't call me Stevie, call me Normie': The Norm Smith medallist

29:47 – Rating the Norm Smith Medal alongside a Brownlow Medal

31:52 – Bond with Giants star Toby Greene

33:34 – 'A risk-taker': Parallels between Johnson and Greene

37:46 – Is there an emotional attachment to the Giants making a Grand Final?

38:22 – Missing the 2016 Preliminary Final through suspension