Alex Johnson will always be one of football’s best, worst, bravest and most heart-breaking stories – all rolled into one.

He played 47 AFL games over seven years with the Sydney Swans all for two gloriously rewarding moments.

The first magic moment was his 45^th game when the then 20-year-old shared the ultimate football success as a member of the 2012 premiership side.

He was the sixth-youngest Swans premiership player in the club’s 126-year history and one of only 27 Swans players on an all-time playing list of now 1442 to win a flag inside their first 50 games.

One of the brightest youngest defenders in the competition, he had everything in front of him.

The second magic moment was his 46^th game in Round 20, 2018 a staggering 2136 days and five left knee reconstructions later after more personal anguish than most would think humanly possible.

It was Johnson’s comeback match when, with a slice of Tom McCartin magic, he enjoyed a brilliant rebirth to his long-stagnated career with a last-gasp win over Collingwood at the SCG.

And despite the fact that his return to football would be devastatingly short, it will always be an unforgettable moment in the Swans’ 40-year history in Sydney, and, now four years on, is the headline story for the ‘Remember When – Round 20’ flashback.

It was crunch time on a hotly congested ladder. Sydney were 9^th at 11-7 and one of six teams from 6^th to 11^th separated by a game as they prepared to host Collingwood, who were 3^rd at 12-6.

They’d gone 1-4 from Round 15, with a four-goal loss to 17^th-placed Gold Coast at home in Round 18 and a 43-point loss to 11^th-placed Essendon in Melbourne in Round 19 and were in danger of missing the finals.

Johnson was included with Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack and Daniel Robinson to replace Heath Grundy (ill), Zak Jones (suspended), Colin O’Riordon (injured) and Robbie Fox (omitted).

Having played in jumper #34 for his first 45 games, Johnson wore for the first time the #2 jumper offered to him by 2012 premiership teammate Rhyce Shaw when he retired at the end of 2015.

It was Harry Cunningham’s 100^th game – he’d played 99 games while Johnson was in rehabilitation.

Collingwood led 7.3 to 4.4 at halftime despite three goals from Lance Franklin, but it turned completely when Franklin kicked two more as the Swans added 5.2 to 0.3 in the third quarter.

When Franklin kicked his sixth goal 17 seconds into the final term Sydney led by 18 points, yet 22 minutes later they were five points down.

Franklin cut it to four points, but it could have gone either way as Tom Papley kicked long to Franklin in a one-on-one contest. The ball spilled to the front, where McCartin half fumbled it out to Josh Kennedy, who was immediately tackled.

The ball spilled free again and McCartin, in his 11^th game, gathered only to be pounced on immediately. Amazingly, lying almost flat on the SCG surface, he miraculously threw his right foot at the ball and watched with 32,238 SCG spectators as it bounced 20m towards goal, eventually crossing the line just before it was touched by a diving Collingwood defender.

The Pies still had time until Isaac Heeney, stationed perfectly on the edge of the defensive goal square, marked on his chest to turn them around again. The Swans won 11.7 (73) to 10.11 (71).

The TV cameras went immediately to an emotional Johnson as he was mobbed by teammates. They were beautiful scenes after he’d had 15 possessions and done his job nicely in a game in which Franklin had earned three Brownlow Medal votes.

All of a sudden the anguish of two Johnson knee reconstructions in 2013 and a further three between 2014-16 was for something. Finally, he was an AFL player again. At least until the first quarter of the game the following week, when he blew out his ‘good’ knee.

Scenes of his mother racing to the Swans interchange bench to console her now 26-year-old son before he trudged down into the bowels of the SCG to cry his eyes out plastered an unforgettable memory on the minds of Swans fans.

He’d had a total of 12 surgeries on his left knee. That his right knee would give out 22 minutes into his second comeback match against Melbourne at the MCG was unthinkable, as he recounted recently with Hamish McLachlan in his new series ‘Last Time I Cried’.

"It was just me, my mum, my dad and my sister," Johnson said. "We just sat there and that's probably when it really hit me … this potentially could be it for me in terms of my career. When you're in the depths of the MCG, that's when you can let your emotions out a bit.

"I've never been too afraid of crying, but when you're in the company of your really close family and people who have been there the whole time … you just let it all out."

"That week, in terms of those eight, nine, 10 days … that's probably the most I've cried in a short space of time," Johnson said.

"There was a two or three-day period after that where you just tend to give up. You think not much is really worth it and you go through a lot of lows. There are not many positives that come out of those things.

"You realise the flow-on effect it has on other people. It forces relationships to break down.

"I've always tried to keep things in perspective as much as I could, there are always people around you that are going through worse things.

"But when something that you love and you're so passionate about and you work so hard for is taken away from you … it's an extremely hard pill to swallow and there's not much you can do to change that."

Yet worse was to come. After he’d got through a 2019 season playing in the VFL with the Northern Blues he blew out his knee again shortly before the cancellation of the 2020 VFL campaign due to Covid. Finally, his career was done. But for football fans, Johnson will always be remembered for his courage and resilience in the face of adversity.

Overall, in 39 Round 20 matches during the Sydney era the Swans have enjoyed a 19-1-19 record – 11-9 at home and 8-1-10 away.

Simon Minton-Connell twice had a big day out in losing Round 19 sides. He kicked seven goals in a loss to Carlton at the SCG in 1992, and eight goals in a loss to Fitzroy at the SCG in 1993. And Tony Lockett kicked seven goals in a two-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Waverley in 1998.

Other Round 19 highlights include:

1988 – A Barnstorming Second Half

Sydney were 12 points down at halftime against Fitzroy at the SCG in Round 20, 1988 before a barnstorming second half delivered a 24.16 (160) to 14.13 (97) win. They kicked 17.8 to 5.5 after the long break.

Glenn Coleman kicked five goals and Barry Mitchell six goals to go with 26 possessions, yet Mitchell had reason to be a little miffed when he polled only one vote on Brownlow Medal night.

Mark Kellett (17 possessions) received three votes and Leon Higgins (17 possessions, three goals) two votes. But at least Mitchell was in the votes – Greg Williams’ 39 possessions and four goals went unrecognised by the umpires.

1990 – No ‘Spoon’ Here

Bernard Toohey played his 200^th AFL game as the battling Swans hosted Brisbane at the SCG in Round 20, 1990, but for a long time it seemed like there would be no celebratory win.

Sydney sat at the bottom of the ladder with a 3-16 record as they hosted second-bottom Brisbane in a virtual wooden-spooner decider.

The Bears led by 10 points, two points and 14 points at the changes. It was 4.15 to 7.11 at three-quarter time before the Swans piled on 7.5 to 0.2 in the final period and won 11.20 (86) to 7.13 (55).

Mark Eustice (21 possessions) polled the last three Brownlow Medal votes of his career, while Greg Williams (37 possessions, one goal) picked up two votes in a win which, when they followed up with a win over Geelong the following week, saw them send the dreaded ‘spoon’ to Brisbane.

1999 – Record Win v Adelaide

Sydney have played Adelaide 44 times for 29 wins, but never have they beaten them by as much as they did in Round 20, 1999.

With their finals hopes on the line after losses in Rounds 18-19 the Swans hosted a Crows side in a similar predicament. Only one of the two could possibly squeeze into the finals, and the home side answered emphatically which side it would be.

With Tony Lockett kicking eight goals straight they kicked 6-6-7-6 goals quarter-by quarter for a thumping win 25.9 (159) to 5.11 (41) that ultimately saw them sneak into eighth spot.

Paul Kelly (27 possessions, three goals), Lockett and Wayne Schwass (30 possessions, four goals) took the Brownlow Medal votes in what was the second game and first win of a brilliant 241-game career for Brett Kirk.

2003 – Beating the Premiers

The Brisbane Lions were the super team of the early 21^st century. Premiers in 2001-02, they were charging towards a third flag in 2003 until they ran into the Swans at the Gabba in Round 20.

The home side, 3^rd on the ladder, led by 14 points at quarter-time and nine points at half-time. Sydney kicked 6.6 to 2.4 in the third term to get 11 points up, but when the Lions kicked the first two goals of the final term it looked like a brave rally from the visitors would fall shop.

Or at least until Barry Hall stood up. The champion key forward goaled at the 17-minute mark to get his team back into it and after a goalless 10 minutes he booted what proved to be the winner. A late major from Paul Williams in his 250^th AFL game closed out a 14.6 (90) to 10.16 (76) win in which Hall’s five goals earned him three Brownlow votes.

Sadly, when the teams met next in the preliminary final the result went the other way. The Lions prevailed by 44 points at Stadium Australia before trouncing Collingwood in the grand final, But Sydney were building, and two years later would bring another flag to the northern states.