Isaiah Johnson moves to Red Cliffs for next season

Red Cliffs has pulled off one of the biggest coups in the Sunraysia league off-season with a leading goalkicker joining the Tigers.

Robinvale-Euston's Isaiah Johnson has starred for the Eagles. Picture: Glenn Milne (supplied)

At a glance SJ2

Leading Sunraysia sharp shooter Isaiah Johnson will be playing for another club next season after signing for Red Cliffs.

The 2023 leading goalkicker’s signing is a major boost to the Tigers as they look to make finals for the first time since 2018.

Johnson has been the competition’s benchmark by kicking 153 goals in the past three years, to be level with Jarrod Brander as the leading goalkicker during that time.

He helped the Eagles make the grand final in 2023.

Robinvale-Euston's Isaiah Johnson burns off his South Mildura opponent last year. Picture: Glenn Milne

“We identified in the season that one of the issues our club was dealing with was kicking goals,” Red Cliffs president Mick Smith said.

“We spread our net far and wide and a couple of conversations had gone on with (Red Cliffs) boys who had played footy with Izzy (Johnson), not at Robinvale, but Mallee Tigers and other clubs like that.

“We identified him to be one of the most dangerous forwards in the league so once the season was finished we decided to make an approach and see what Izzy’s thoughts were about joining.”

And after a few conversations Johnson and the club felt the right move was to become a Tiger.

Smith said it hopefully would allow him to get back to his 2023 best after a tough season this year kicking 27 goals in 15 games.

“He wanted to make sure he was the right fit for us and vice versa,” Smith said.

“I think a change is as good as a holiday.

“For Izzy he was looking for an opportunity to capture that form and get to his best footy.”

Smith said the signing signalled the clubs intent to make finals in 2025.

Ryan Doherty has been coach for the past two season, guiding a youthful senior side up the ladder.

Last year Red Cliffs finished sixth, two games outside of the top-five.

Now the time has come for the club to have a crack.

“We knew it would take 3-5 years to implement the plan and get to a point where we start to push towards finals contentions,” he said.

“We knew we had a young group and had put in significant work with our junior players over a five to six year period to start to build up some really good numbers of players who were ready to come and play at senior level.

“That’s the aim now (finals) and to add a couple of players to what is already a strong and developing list and take the next step.”

Smith said the club would be looking to add more recruits over the next few weeks before pre-season.