Sydney Swans assistant coach John Blakey is confident the club’s defensive stocks have enough depth to replace the injured Alex Johnson.

In the wake of the 21-year-old’s anterior cruciate ligament tear, Blakey said injuries were part of the game and were something that every club – including the Swans - had to prepare for.

“Obviously injuries are happening all the time and other guys step up,” Blakey said.

“Early last year we lost Gary Rohan and at the time we had to think about how you replace a player like Gary and what he can add to a side, and I guess it’s similar this time around with Alex.

“We look like we’ve lost him for a significant part of the year and I guess the same questions arise, but there are always guys who stand up.”

Blakey said there were already a number of players putting their hand up for a chance in the senior side, including Tony Armstrong and rookie Dane Rampe.

“We’ve got Tony Armstrong who was probably the next in line to be in the senior side last year and is very versatile and can play down back and is a tremendous ball user and can add a different dimension to us,” he said.

“We’ve also had young Dane Rampe in his first year at the club playing every NAB Cup game and has shown some real strength.

“He’s a little older, he’s 22, and he’s certainly got the strength and the running ability to be able to play on the smalls and could be one who could fill in for the Alex-type of role.”

Blakey added that the Swans can also call on the services of utility Lewis Roberts-Thomson, who has a proven record down back for the club.

“Of course, we’ve also got our ever-reliable LRT in the back wings if we need to shuffle him down back at different times we’ll be able to do that as well,” he said.

“He had a great year last year mainly as a forward and slipped down back in one of the finals and actually played on Kurt Tippett in Adelaide and did well on him.

“We know he can also play in the ruck, so to have a tall that is able to do that and is very mobile is very important for the side.”

In the absence of Johnson, the remainder of the Swans premiership-winning back six will be reunited this weekend with Nick Smith and Marty Mattner set to take the field for the first time this year.

Blakey said he felt the Swans’ defence was coming together just in time for the 2013 home-and-away season.

“We’re very excited and we think they will both probably play limited minutes this week in the seniors,” he said.

“The back six are sort of getting back together after quite a few had interrupted pre-seasons, so this week we should see most of them out there and we’ll be settling on a side very shortly moving in to round one.”