Premiership defender Alex Johnson "is happy and well" following his latest knee reconstruction.

The 24-year-old is recovering on the couch at the family’s home in Melbourne in the wake of Monday’s operation which was, from all reports, labelled a success.

“It all went really well,” Johnson said.

“The surgeons were really happy with everything – happy with the graft and how the knee looked overall.

“There’s some really positive signs early.”

He’ll be bound to couch for another week before the rehabilitation and the long nine to 12-month recovery process begins.

“I’ve just been resting and icing it over the past few days. I’ll continue that for the next week or so and then hopefully start moving around a little bit more,” Johnson added.

“Hopefully in a couple of weeks I’ll get the all clear to get back to Sydney so I can get stuck into my rehab.”

It was Johnson’s fifth knee reconstruction.

Johnson’s last game was the 2012 premiership win with the defender rupturing his ACL during the subsequent pre-season.

He’s suffered from numerous complications since.

No player in the history of the game has returned to top level football from five reconstructions but Johnson told sydneyswans.com.au last week that he’s determined to become the first.