Michael Johnson played the entirety of his AFL career alongside Luke McPharlin, but following the club champion’s retirement last season, Johnson said he was excited about the future of Freo’s backline.

“It’s on my shoulders now, being the elder statesman of the group,” Johnson said.

“Our backline has worked really hard over the pre-season and bringing in Brent Guerra to the club has helped a lot of our players.

“We’re a really close knit group and we’re really excited for the challenge.”

Freo possess experienced leadership and exciting youth at key defensive positions, and the depth of the position group can only be beneficial according the Johnson.

“Watching training and being out there, it’s hard to choose between players, which is a good thing for our club,” he said.

Mundy in good shape for season ahead: Johnson

“(Sam) Collins has come in and trained really well, you can rely on Alex Silvagni to do his job and Alex Pearce showed us last year what he can bring to the team.”

While Freo’s key defenders are a strength for the team, Johnson also said the addition of highly skilled users of the ball would add another dimension to the defensive unit. 

“To have elite players like Stephen Hill and David Mundy, as well as a few guys who are building, like Tommy Sheridan and Cam Sutcliffe, it’s always good to have smart players down there helping,” he said.

“Come round one we should have a really strong back line.” 

Finding the perfect balance between experience and youth in the backline will be important for Freo, but Johnson said the goal for this Sunday’s match against Adelaide would remain fairly simple.

“We’re looking to through without any injuries,” he said.

“We’ll go and play the way we’ve been training and just improve on what we did last week.”