The 21-year-old, who has played 45 games since making his debut in 2011, is yet to make a decision about whether he will undergo a traditional reconstruction or opt for LARS surgery on his injured left knee.
Speaking exclusively to SwansTV on Monday afternoon, Johnson said he needed some time away to come to terms with his injury and to decide about his treatment.
“It’s been a pretty hectic 24-to-48 hours since it’s happened and I’ve given it a bit of thought,” he said.
“I think just getting down to Melbourne and getting out of Sydney and out of the club and spending time with mum and dad and family and friends will get my mind off it and will give me a good chance to make the right decision for myself and the footy club.”
Scans over the weekend confirmed that Johnson tore his left ACL and suffered some minor cartilage damage in an innocuous first quarter contest with Gold Coast midfielder Jaeger O’Meara.
“I had scans over the last couple of days to confirm that (it was an ACL tear) and it was obviously a disappointing result,” he said.
“It was a really simple movement and I’ve watched it a couple of times on video and it was just a simple change of direction when I planted my left foot and my knee sort of splayed out a little bit.
“At the time I heard a little snap so I knew I’d done something pretty serious, but because I’d never had any problems with my knee before, I wasn’t sure what it was or how long it was going to hurt for.
“Straight away it hurt, but 30 seconds to a minute later I sort of felt fine and wanted to walk off, but the doctor said no and they wanted me to be carried off.
“Then after in the rooms … I felt like I was fine and that I wanted to play the second half but the doctor took one look at it and told me that I’d done my ACL.”
Johnson said he had received plenty of support since his injury, but was understandably disappointed to not be able to join his team mates for the start of 2013 season in two weeks’ time.
“It’s obviously pretty flattening after having a pretty good pre-season to come to two weeks out from round one and to do my ACL,” he said.
“My phone has been going nuts for the last 24 hours, which is nice to see, but it’s not really something you want support for I guess.
“I’d prefer people to leave me alone and for me to be playing this week, but to know you’ve got a lot of family support back in Melbourne and obviously really good people involved with the footy club and ex-team mates.”
