2135 days of waiting: Johnson to play first AFL game in nearly six years
When Alex Johnson finished the last exam of his commerce degree, his father promised to throw him a massive dinner to celebrate.
"He said 'it will not be as big as the dinner you throw when I play my next game'," Johnson's father Graeme recalled.
The time has come for that dinner with Johnson on the verge of realising what many had thought to be an impossible dream by returning to senior football.
The injury-cursed defender will on Saturday night make his comeback for Sydney in their clash against Collingwood at the SCG. It will have been 2135 days since he last wore the red and the white on the biggest stage of all in the 2012 grand final.
In between his strength and resilience has been tested like few footballers in the history of the modern game. He's had five knee reconstructions, seven other operations on his knee, a recurring infection and groin surgery.
Only eight other Swans from the 2012 premiership team remain on the list. Others careers have come and gone during his time out. He missed Kurt Tippett's five years at the club. He's only ever played against Lance Franklin, not with. The list goes on.
"Someone mentioned to me today a lot of the boys running out with him on the weekend, the last time he played an AFL game was when they were in primary school," Swans coach John Longmire said.
Johnson learned the news on Wednesday morning when he was called into the match committee room and saw his magnet, which Longmire joked had gathered an inch of dust, on the whiteboard.
It was supposed to have been kept a secret until Thursday but news quickly spread among Johnson's circle. His parents, Graeme and Joan, and his brother and sister will be at the SCG, so too a host of friends eager to see what promises to be an emotional occasion.
Johnson's ordeal would have broken even the most resilient of footballers but he was adamant it would not end his career. There was a time he trained without an anterior cruciate ligament due to complications with previous surgeries.
He ran for the first time in 906 days in September, 2016. Last year he played his first match in 1736 days.
"I had my sights firmly set on coming back to the AFL, that's why I've stuck at it. That's why I've had five knee reconstructions, 12 operations on the knee," Johnson, who the club had earmarked to be a 15-year key defender after the premiership win, said.
"Speak to anyone close to me they know I wouldn't have given up until that happened. There were times lying in the hospital bed having two surgeries in the week, more concerned about my health than getting back playing footy, you question if it'll actually happen. I'm over the moon that it's come."
Longmire said the Swans had doubts too over Johnson, asking him to think of life after football, but still the player did not waver. That the club did not cut him was testament to the high regard they held for him.
"You don't stay around a football club without playing any football without being a) talented, b) dedicated, and c) popular. And he's all of those," Longmire said.
Johnson' return is a fillip for the struggling Swans but Longmire wants it know sentiment has not played a part in his selection.
"It got to the point we were probably coming up with reasons not to player rather then for us to just pick him," Longmire said.
"We had to clear that out of our minds, which we did a couple of weeks ago, and just look at the evidence and the evidence in front of us was he was playing really well and deserved his game."