Johnson, who re-tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his first game back for the Swans reserves in March this year, was granted leave by the club after a horror 14 months which had already seen him undergo both a traditional and hybrid-LARS reconstructions on his right knee.
Speaking to SwansTV for the HCF Injury Update, club physiotherapist Matt Cameron said that Johnson, who also underwent arthroscopic surgery prior to his overseas trip, was now ready for his third reconstruction.
“He’s had a bit of time off and a bit of time away from the place,” Cameron said.
“His knee looks really good and the swelling has settled right down and he’s got no inflammation in the knee.
“He’s off to see the surgeon in the next week or so and we’ll make a decision about his surgery in the coming weeks.”
In other injury news, Cameron said he was hopeful Mike Pyke would miss just one more week with a hamstring injury suffered in round seven.
The 30-year-old ruckman was ruled out of this week’s clash with Geelong after a slower than expected recovery from a back-related hamstring strain.
“He’s been a little bit slower than we would have hoped,” Cameron said.
“He only has a small hamstring muscle strain but he’s got a couple of issues going on in his back, which has seemed to have slowed things down a bit.
“He hasn’t yet felt quite right to sprint, but he’s running pretty quickly now and is running close to three-quarter speed, but that’s not really quite quick enough in order to play in two days.”
Cameron said he expected Pyke to return to team training next week which would hopefully place him in the mix for selection for the round 12 clash with the Gold Coast Suns.
“We’ll hold him back from this week and get his speed up and have him training with the group next week,” he said.
“There will be three training sessions next week, so we’ll be able to give him a bit of training and that will help his preparation.”
Young defender Matthew Dick will also miss a week of football with a hamstring strain, sidelining him for this Saturday’s top-of-the-table NEAFL match against the NT Thunder at Drummoyne Oval.
