He’s the player opposition fans love to hate.

But Ryan Crowley’s Fremantle teammate Michael Barlow says the midfield tagger thrives on the negative vibe he gets from over the fence.

Crowley was at his aggressive best in Saturday night’s two-point AFL loss to Geelong at Simonds Stadium as he performed a fine shut-down job on three-time All-Australian Steve Johnson.

Johnson had been averaging 27 possessions per game in 2014 before he ran into Crowley on Saturday night. The triple-premiership star was held to 15 touches by Crowley, who had 10 disposals himself.

“Crowley was at his best. He was annoying,” Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge told Seven’s “AFL Game Day” on Sunday.

“He was nagging. He was holding.

“He was pushing. He was scratching.

“He ripped his top. And smiling while he was doing it.

“You’ve got to love a bloke like that in your team.”

Barlow said 2012 club champion Crowley does a great job every week.

“He really does thrive on the negative opinions he was held in down there at Simonds Stadium,” Barlow told Seven’s “AFL Game Day”.

“He was one of our better contributors on the night and he was able to nullify Stevie’s impact to a certain degree.”

Hodge agreed with Barlow that Crowley was good company off the field.

“On the field he just turns into this pest,” Hodge said.

Johnson was doorstopped by reporters as he entered Simonds Stadium on Sunday morning for a recovery session.

He said playing on Crowley again had been fun.

Geelong coach Chris Scott felt Crowley didn’t have a big impact on the game.

“He (Johnson) is a better player than these blokes,” Scott said.

“If he plays footy, they don’t beat him.

“In terms of Ryan’s impact on the game, I didn’t watch him all that closely offensively but I don’t think he had a big impact.”

Former Cats’ star Billy Brownless was happy to pay credit to Crowley.

“He only had 15 disposals for the night so you’d have to say Crowley’s done his job,” Brownless told Nine’s “The Sunday Footy Show”.