It persisted through season 2012 as his teammates charged towards the premiership. It continued through the next summer and deep into the following year.

The challenge just to walk again was hard enough after a pin was surgically infused into his snapped lower right leg. The injury that greasy Sydney night, round four against North Melbourne, had been so graphic players nearby were sickened and the broadcaster chose not to show replays.

Months later, on his feet again, Rohan cut a lonely figure day after day jogging laps, head down, one foot after the other, grimacing quietly in pain and wondering if there was any point.

"It went through my head plenty of times, that I should just give up and go back home," the softly-spoken red-head says.

"My leg would hurt every session, really hurt. It felt like it would never get better. For about two months it was the same thing. I was just thinking it was going to be like that forever."

Fifty-game milestones usually get a passing mention, but in Rohan's case there is cause for generous recognition. There will be plenty of focus on Jarrad McVeigh's 250th when the Swans play Geelong at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night. But Rohan's achievement in reaching 50 - against the side he faced on debut in the corresponding clash five years ago - is about as praiseworthy as it gets. Far from never playing again as many feared was his fate, he enters the match as arguably the fastest runner in the competition, an explosive rebounder and tackler and a key contributor to the Swans' high-pressure brand.

"To push through it all and reach 50 games is a great little milestone for myself," Rohan says.

"It's only 50 but it's something I wouldn't have expected early on in my career.

"I feel very proud that I stuck it out and pushed through. But I wouldn't have been able to do it without the support I had along the way. Everyone at the club was so supportive."

Foremost was Rhyce Shaw, Rohan's mentor when he arrived in Sydney and a continuous backer through the best and worst times.

"He'd been through so much already but I remember one real flat patch he went through in his rehab was when he was starting to do some running, the weather was hot and his leg was throbbing all the time," Shaw says.

"I knew he was hurting. He'd come in limping and I remember feeling his leg when he was on the physio table - it felt like it was 400 degrees. It must have been killing him.

"I just remember saying to him, 'Mate, it's going to get better. You're nearly there. It's going to turn'. I was on him all the time, just trying to joke with him and get him through that period."

Shaw was recovering from injury himself when Rohan made his return for the reserves in July 2013 after nearly 500 days out.

"I was the runner that day, I dragged someone off to get him on the ground and the crowd went nuts," he says. "My heart was pumping, hairs were sticking up on the back of my neck. It was one of those great moments, so great to see him back out there."

Barely a month later Rohan was back in the senior side, surpassing the expectations of most, including coach John Longmire, who at the time described his rehabilitation as "one of the biggest challenges, if not the biggest in football".

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While Rohan acknowledges there is something to celebrate on Saturday, he feels strongly that his name does not become synonymous with one dreadful moment in 2012. He accepts that, presently, "when my name comes up it's all about the broken leg", but he wants to write a new history.

"I've still got another two years on my contract here and a lot of footy to come, so hopefully I can do that," he says.

This season so far has helped that cause. He has played each game following a full pre-season and is in good form. Remarkably, he feels his pace has increased.

"I did a lot of leg weights trying to get back from my injury and I think I'm more explosive off the first couple of steps now, faster and stronger taking off over those first 10 metres, which is exactly what I need," he says.

Shaw understand's Rohan's desire to dissociate from the ordeal but believes the lessons it presented have helped make his mate a better player.

"Gazza was a young kid who loved to muck around and we all loved that about him," Shaw says. "But I don't think he knew what it really meant to work hard and also what it meant to have something taken away from him. When that happened, he had to really grow up.

"He was so young, away from his family - he moved up to Sydney as a young bloke and didn't know many people - and he had to deal with it all and do his rehab pretty much alone. I think he's really matured from that.

"Nowadays he's really crucial for us down in that forward line. He just harasses and gets after the opposition with his tackle and chase. He's the fastest man in the AFL, Gazza. When he puts his head down and gets that red hair going, he's lightning. He's going really well."

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The darkest hour seemed eternal, but it is not just on the field that Rohan's dawn has broken. He recently became engaged to be married next year and bought a house in Coogee. He feels more settled now than at any time since he came up as a shy and homesick teenager from the tiny dairy farming centre of Cobden, Victoria, "a town of 1500 people," he says, "where you know every single person".

"It was pretty tough coming to the big smoke. Early on the boys even got into me for the clothing I used to wear," he says, cracking a smile.

"I used to wear trackies, country clothes. I had to change my style to fit into the city life, wearing chinos and all that. You've got to fit right in, you know."

Shaw says that Rohan has become a team favourite, even if he always goes on about his hometown.

"All he does is talk about the 1500 people who live in Cobden, They're all related to him, I reckon. I don't even know where Cobden is. It's some country town with horses and carts and stuff.

"Nah, he's come a long way, Gazza. He's a good country boy, just a little kid really. That's how I see him, anyway, a little brother type.

"He means really well, wears his heart on his sleeve. He's a great bloke to have around the club, has a joke with the boys. We just all wish him the best because it's a great effort from where he's come from."