Sydney Swans coach John Longmire said the club would take no chances with injured forward Gary Rohan, and would not rush his return to the field.

The coach’s comments came after Rohan’s cameo appearance at Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium last weekend, where the 22-year-old took part in the match as a team runner for the Swans reserves.

Speaking at the SCG ahead of the club’s bye-week break, Longmire said Rohan’s role as a runner was simply another variation of his ongoing rehabilitation program.

“It was just another extension of that (program), and he needed another training session anyway, so getting out amongst the bodies and running around in a game-like situation was probably good for him,” he said.

“He’s been a part of our reserves for the whole time he’s been out and he’s really been contributing well and we always love having him around, so he’s been a great asset to the reserves players.

“It was a good session for him to do, to work on his fitness, but also to get a bit of confidence up.”

Rohan has taken a number of significant steps forward in the first half of 2013, after beginning his running program in February before joining team training in May.

Despite his vast improvements over the last few months, Longmire said the club would continue to take a cautious approach with the talented young Swan.

“It’s still too soon (for Rohan to return) and that’s only because history tells us that there are little hiccups along the way,” Longmire said.

“We’ve been really pleased with the amount of training he’s been doing and he’s been going really well and has looked fantastic at training.

“They haven’t been full sessions yet, so he’s still got a few weeks to go before he gets a few full sessions under his belt before we even consider playing him.”

Despite still being a number of weeks away from a long-awaited return to football, Longmire said he’d heard  reports that the Rohan’s lightning pace was still on show up on the Gold Coast.

“I’ve heard he did a good job,” Longmire said

“He got the messages out very quick and got back, and in fact I think Jared Crouch only got a couple of words out and he was already back and had delivered it, so I don’t think Crouchy had finished saying anything before he got back and sat down and said ‘what next?’, so he’s lost no pace.
“I think he was trying to do a couple of chase-down tackles but they managed to stop him at some point during the game!”