For the first time since season 2013, Johnson is back in the blue colours of the Souths men’s Premier League Hockey side and that is where he plans to play out the remainder of his career in the Central West competition.

He was lured back to the club he first represented as a five-year-old following discussions with current Souths coach Ray Winwood-Smith.

"Ray, I've got a really good relationship with him, he was a mentor to me when I was coming through juniors,” Johnson said.

"I've always thought of Souths as my hockey home, so when Ray reached out to me, it was an offer too good to resist, especially because I haven't got a lot of years in Premier League left.

"A lot of those guys who are there, I went through all my junior hockey playing with them. When I went to my first training session it was like I'd never left.”

Just as Johnson decided to make the switch from Orange Wanderers to join Souths this season, so too has his good friend Keiran Gentles.

The pair had played together at Burwood Briars in Sydney before joining the Wanderers in 2015, where they become joint coach.

The duo enjoyed developing the emerging talents at Wanderers and with Johnson living in Orange, it lessened the burden of travel.

However, the lure to move back to Souths this season was too great for them to resist.

"When Ray reached out to me to go back to Souths, it was something that I'd had in the back of my mind. When you play 10-15 years at that one club, you are always going to have that soft spot,” he said.

"Keiran was in a similar boat, player-coaching does take a toll, not physically but mentally.

"He's a bit older than me too, so he's at the back end of his career as well, but he still has that burning desire to do the best he can.

"Ray reached out to him as well and he also had that link from juniors with Ray.”

This Saturday Johnson and Gentles will line up against the Wanderers team they left on the Orange turf which they have become so familiar with.

Souths heads into the away match on the back of an 8-3 win over Parkes in its only match of the season thus far, while Wanderers will be chasing its first points after heavy defeats to Lithgow Panthers (7-0) and Lithgow Zig Zag (11-3).

"It is full circle now. I remember the first time I played against Souths when I was playing for Wanderers, It wasn't as bad as I expected, it was a good, hard game,” he said.

"I'd expect Orange is going to give 100 percent, 150 percent. They're in a rebuilding phase now, but they've got a point to prove.”

Saturday’s match will commence at 1.55pm in Orange.