In the dying seconds of a game, there are two kinds of players. 

The ones that step up in the big moments and the ones that shrink under the spotlight.

Jason Johannisen showed on Saturday night against the Swans that he is big game player.

With the Dogs down by two points with 40 seconds left on the clock, Johannisen could have been content with letting teammate Marcus Bontempelli test his leg from just outside 50, but instead, he ran into space and demanded the footy.

“When Bonti marked it, I just told him to go back and slot it through but as I was talking to him a bit of space opened up in the 50, so I just snuck in there and he was able to pass it to me," Johannisen told Triple M on Sunday. 

“I got told by the runner that there was a minute left so I tried to take the full thirty and go through my routine to get some momentum and kick through the ball.”

And the rest is history. 

Johannisen hadn’t played football since tearing his hamstring in round four against the Blues, and at the time, he thought his season may have been over.

“At first I thought I needed surgery and that I was going to be four months out and that I was going to struggle to get back in the side later in the year.

“But when I found out that I didn’t need surgery and it was going to heal by itself, I was pretty happy with that.”

And so was every Bulldogs fan sitting on the edge of their seat on Saturday night. 

Never in his career had he kicked the winning goal, "only in my dreams" he said.

In true JJ style, he just had the one regret looking back on that match-winning moment.

“I wish I had waited, maybe, two more seconds until the siren actually went!”