Swans forward Gary Rohan achieved his New Year’s resolution this morning, when he ran outdoors for the first time since breaking his leg in round four last season.

Rohan, who has been confined to the treadmill for the last three months, ran laps of Lakeside Oval this morning and was greeted with plenty of encouragement from his Swans team mates, who returned to the track today after a two-week Christmas break.

Speaking to SwansTV after the session, the 21-year-old said he was pleased with his first outdoor running session in almost nine months.

“It was not too bad. My legs are a bit heavy at the moment but when I got into a rhythm I was fine,” Rohan said.

“It was a good start to the New Year and hopefully I can keep on going without any injuries and can get back.”

While making the transition from the treadmill to the track was difficult, Rohan said he is ready to tackle the challenge.

“On the treadmill it kind of runs for you, but when you’re out on the track you have to work a bit harder and the grass is a bit softer, which is good,” he said.

“My body is feeling very tight, especially my hamstrings and calves, but the whole body is feeling pretty tight afterwards.

“I did four five-minute runs today and it felt really good to get that done.”

Despite making progress over the last two months, Rohan is still focused on taking his recovery one step at a time, starting with regaining confidence on his injured leg.

“My goal is to just get fit again and be confident with my leg and hopefully get back to the reserves and then go from there,” he said.

Swans physiotherapist Matt Cameron told SwansTV he was happy with Rohan’s first outdoor running session saying the Swans’ number 16 showed plenty of positive signs.

“He’s been running for quite a while on the treadmill inside but he’s now ready to get out here in the fresh air and he went well,” Cameron said.

“He looked good, no limping and he’s happy and everyone is happy to see him out there.”

Cameron said Rohan’s running this morning marked the beginning of his next stage of recovery, which will now also include conditioning.

“He’s been back home for a couple of weeks and he’s just been doing consistent treadmill running every second day to just consistently build up his volume, and prior to that he was running at a reduced body weight on the modified treadmill,” he said.

“Now he’s into the grass running and he’s into some conditioning now.

“The main thing is that he’s not really limping and he’s ready now to increase things.”