General Manager of Football Tom Harley admits Alex Johnson has a real fight on his hands, aiming to play football again, but says there’s no man better equipped to throw the punches.

Speaking on Melbourne radio this afternoon, Harley provided the latest news on Johnson’s knee concerns which have sidelined the defender for the past three seasons.

After four knee reconstructions and numerous other procedures, Johnson is frustratingly back to square one after a series of infections meant whatever progress made was lost due to surgeons needing to extract all foreign matter from the 24-year-old’s troublesome knee.

With his knee “about as pure as it can possibly be”, Johnson is in the process of acquiring advice from a number of Australia’s best surgeons to decide the next best course of action to fulfil the 2012 premiership player’s dream of donning the red and white again.

“He’s got an uphill battle in terms of another operation but in saying that he’s positive about it and committed to exploring all avenues,” Harley told SEN’s Afternoons.

“At this point in time it’s just about getting all the information and the best care for Alex as we can. We’ll cross that bridge first then start talking about football.

“If Alex wants to play then we’ll fully support him.”

Johnson has played 45 career matches to date; his last was the 2012 Premiership win against Hawthorn with his ACL rupturing the subsequent pre-season.

Today (Tuesday, February 9) marks 1,067 days since the injury, done innocuously during a NAB Challenge match against Gold Coast in Blacktown.

That’s a lot of hours of rehab and a setback for Johnson to deal with but, according to Harley, his resilience has withstood the test of time.

“As we’ve found out he’s a remarkably resilient young man who took footy by storm in his first couple of years and has shown nothing but that ever since,” Harley continued.

“He’s been invested in his rehabilitation and has researched it thoroughly himself. He knows knees as well as just about any expert.

“He’s clearly not unaffected by it, but the way he portrays himself he’s unaffected.”

With still plenty of information and expertise to gather Harley and the Sydney Swans medical staff aren’t about to put a timeline on a potential return date.

“I know Alex is keen to get moving as quickly as possible but we’re really conscious of not putting a timeline on it,” he added.

“Given the circumstances, an end date isn’t really relevant at the moment.”