Johns said Ferguson, who he believes was in contention for an Origin recall earlier in the season, only has himself to blame following a poor defensive outing against South Sydney.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
"I think they were talking about him in Origin, but against South Sydney defensively he was poor," Johns told Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n "He's obviously been sent back to reserve grade to work on his game. I watched him closely on the weekend and he played well [in reserve grade], really strong which is a good sign.<\/p>\n "It's not only Ferguson on notice, it's every player. It doesn't matter how big a player you are, Brad Arthur said, 'If you're not performing and doing what I expect of you I'm going to drop you'.<\/p>\n "The young guy who went in, Haze Dunster, he went really well. It's put Ferguson on notice."<\/p>\n While Ferguson may be out of favour with the Eels and coach Arthur, Johns said he's confident the off-contract 31-year-old still has plenty of footy left in him and can still command a hefty salary.<\/p>\n "I think it's Brad shaking him up, it's not acceptable," he added.<\/p>\n "As I said, defensively there were some reads Ferguson got wrong against Souths. It's been happening in bits and pieces during the year.<\/p>\n "He (Brad Arthur) changed Tom Opacic, who's a good defender, to go on the other side and they still looked vulnerable [against South Sydney]. It's just to put Ferguson on notice and say, 'you need to work on your game'.<\/p>\n "When he's on, he's like an extra front-rower, he gets the sets rolling forward.<\/p>\n "At this stage of his career, and I don't how they manage the salary cap, but he would be a $350,000-$400,000 player.<\/p>\n "I think he still has a couple of years to go. When he's right, he's the most damaging winger coming out of trouble."<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Immortal](\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/06\/363200\/pickerImage.jpg\")
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