Sydney Swans defender Alex Johnson admits that the last three months have been among the most difficult times in his short AFL career.

Ten weeks ago, the 21-year-old ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during the Swans pre-season campaign, and after undergoing a traditional knee reconstruction in March, will now spend the remainder of the season in rehabilitation as he recovers from the injury.

Speaking to SwansTV for the first time since beginning his rehab, Johnson said coping with the long recovery from his injury has already been one of his toughest football challenges.

“It is pretty frustrating trying to keep sane I guess,” he said.

“I’m feeling not too bad at the moment and it’s been ten weeks since I did the injury, so I’ve had a bit of time to get over it and sort of come to terms with the fact that I’ll be missing the whole season.

“I’ve never really had an injury that’s kept me out for more than one or two games through my entire junior career coming up the ranks, so to have something that will keep me out for the whole season is something I’ve had to get used to and come to terms with.

“I’m sort of getting used to watching, which I’m not taking a liking to too much.”

Since returning to the club six weeks ago, the Johnson has undertaken a closely monitored rehab program under the guidance of club physiotherapist Matt Cameron.

Cameron said after the initial recovery phase following his surgery, Johnson has now moved into strength and conditioning training.

“He’s had surgery, and like all knee surgery, there is about a two week period where you are simply just recovering from the surgery and wounds are healing, and then you set about your rehabilitation,” Cameron told SwansTV.

“For him, that’s been to reduce the pain and swelling around his knee and simply to increase his strength in his quad muscle, which goes across the front of the knee.

“About four weeks ago he was able to start some conditioning and some fitness work, which originally was upper body and then moves into the lower body, so he’s cycling both inside and on the road bike and various other things to work on his fitness.”

Fortunately for the young defender, his next rehab milestone is just around the corner, when he begins his running program in just under a month.

“It is pretty frustrating and I’ve spoken to the physios and doctor and the guys who have had it done before like Mal (Nick Malceski) and this is probably the most frustrating time because everything else is going fine and I can walk around pretty freely and feel like I probably could run if I gave it a go,” he said.

“Obviously they just want to hold me back until the 12 week mark and until everything is right and I can get the strength back in my leg and then I can start running again in a month.”

While Johnson’s injury is disappointing for both the player and the club, Swans Player Welfare Manager Dennis Carroll said long-term injuries can unfortunately be part of life as an AFL footballer.

“A lot of the young guys have never had massive injuries like this before,” Carroll said.

“It’s important to keep close to the player and just make sure they’re feeling well because with long-term injuries there are going to be ups and downs and they are not going to be feeling great.

“We don’t expect them to be around the club the whole time just as long as we get a nice balance there.”

Carroll said that in Johnson’s case, the fourth-year Swan was dealing with his injury well and was doing his best to stay involved in the day-to-day operations of the club.

“He is involved in some of the meetings, the Monday review for example, Alex comes in for that, plus there are our corporate partners that Alex has been involved in some activities with, as well some of the community activities that we normally do,” Carroll said.

“Those sorts of things can take your mind away from the pure football aspect and being introduced to other people involved with the club can also take his mind off things.

“Overall, I think Alex is coping particularly well and he’s got great support here from everyone and gets home often to catch up with his family and I think he’s coping particularly well.”

With eight weeks of rehab under his belt, Johnson said he planned on taking some time away from the club over the next few weeks, including a trip back home to Melbourne to spend time with family and friends.

“The club is going to give me a couple of weeks off, maybe two or three weeks in a couple of weeks (time), just before I can start running,” he said.

“I’m not too sure at the moment and I wouldn’t mind heading overseas, but I’ll sort of just see what happens.”