Sydney coach John Longmire admits he’s been surprised by the rapid recovery of speedster Gary Rohan, who on Sunday will play his first AFL match since a horrific leg break in round 4 last year.
Rohan returned to the Swans’ reserves in July, and has quickly progressed to the point where he is match fit and showing no lingering effects from the surgery on his fractured tibia.
“We’ve selected him based on the ability to play 100 minutes of football,” Longmire said on Friday ahead of his side’s SCG clash with St Kilda.
“At the start of the year, I thought if he was able to get back and play reserves this year that would be a big tick.
“For him to be starting pre-season next year with 2-3 reserves games under his belt, that was probably my expectation at the start of the season.
“With those injuries … you get some setbacks.
“He’s been able to get over those setbacks pretty quickly, so he probably has surpassed my expectations.”
Longmire suggested every indication was that Rohan had lost none of his trademark pace.
“At times (this year) we’ve seen that absolute top-end, genuine pace. There wouldn’t be many blokes faster than Lewis Jetta, but he’s probably one of them,” Longmire said.
The third-year coach praised Rohan’s resilience, ranking broken-leg rehab as “one of the biggest challenges, if not the biggest in football”.
“Michael Barlow and others (to have suffered the injury) … they’re probably the only ones that can understand the amount of work and challenges Gary has had,” he added.
More than 480 days have passed since the most recent of Rohan’s 22 AFL matches, leaving the effervescent 22-year-old with some unfamiliar nerves.
“It actually feels like it’s my first game again and it feels like I’ve just come into the club and am making my debut,” Rohan told the club website.
“I’ve played four games (in the reserves) … I was very confident in my leg, so I don’t worry about it.
“They’ve come off a loss last week so hopefully I can spark them up a bit this weekend.”
Meanwhile, Longmire expressed confidence dual Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes would return from a knee injury before finals start.