Now Johnson on a mission
ALEX Johnson wants more than the fairytale return he celebrated on Saturday night.
He’s making up for lost time. Lots of it, almost six years of it.
For such a long spell out of the game, his return was seamless and was helped in part by Dane Rampe, the man who took his spot in the team after he ruptured his ACL for the first time in February 2013.
Rampe played 133 games in Johnson’s absence and until Saturday night had never played alongside Johnson. In a nice piece of symmetry, it was Rampe who provided Johnson his first touch of the footy at the top level in 2136 days.
“Once I got my first kick, I was away,” Johnson said. “It was appropriate it was Ramps who gave me my first possession, he took my position after all. I remind him of that every now and then. Ramps has been an unbelievable player.”
Johnson put an exclamation mark on his comeback with 16 possessions and 11 marks. His return is a massive bonus for Sydney, which now has a 26-year-old key defender who has performed at the highest level and played in a premiership.
In 2013, he looked like being a 200game player, and while the doublecentury now looks out of reach, another 100 is definitely achievable.
The win over Collingwood has reignited the Swans’ season which looked dead and buried when their loss to Essendon made it four losses from their past five games.
They face Melbourne at the MCG next Sunday followed by GWS and then Hawthorn in the last home-and-away match. Ben Ronke is expected to be fit to play after suffering a migraine during the win over the Magpies.