This past weekend wasn’t just the biggest weekend on the AFL calendar, it was a chance for talented GIANTS youngster Scarlett Johnson to ‘reset’ as she prepares for what she knows will be the most challenging but rewarding part of her ACL rehab.
One of the most exciting under-18 prospects in the country last year, the GIANTS swooped on Johnson with pick two in the 2025 Telstra AFLW Draft after she starred for both the Northern Knights and Vic Metro.
After impressing on the track across her maiden pre-season as a GIANT, the young star’s career didn’t quite go to plan when she suffered a ruptured ACL in a practice match on the eve of her debut season.
While she’s as eager as ever to get back to full fitness and finally realise her AFLW dream in 2027, Johnson has spent the past six days taking the opportunity for a mental reset, visiting her friends and family back home in Victoria before tackling a huge step in her rehab.
“I flew down to Melbourne on Wednesday to really prioritise seeing my family and catching up with my friends,” Johnson said.
“It’s definitely a mental reset for me. Things are starting to ramp up rehab-wise and I’m hopefully running in the next few weeks, so I felt it was kind of needed before things get a lot more intense.
“Not having to think about, I guess, the footy side of things has been nice for a few days.
“It's still a very long time until I'll be able to play and until I'll be back, but just taking a break and getting into the right headspace and hanging out with my friends and family and doing stuff on my own time away from the club, I feel that could be very beneficial for me.
“Not that I don’t already have them, but I feel like I’ll have a whole lot more motivation and drive when I get back to the club on Wednesday to just keep pushing myself and trying to do everything I can to get back as soon as I can.”
That break from the all-consuming nature of elite sport allowed Johnson to spend meaningful time with her mum and dad, Belinda and Matt, and her younger sister Tilly back at their family home in Eltham.
“I hadn't seen them for quite a few weeks so it's always good to hang out with them and do the stuff I used to do with them when I was living here.”
Johnson said their support had been immense since suffering her ACL injury back in July.
“They've just been so supportive.
“They were there when I did it [ruptured ACL], so they stayed with me. Mum and Dad stayed with me for a bit after it happened and then Mum and Dad came up for my surgery, which was really nice to have them there.
“Mum stayed for a week and it was really good to have her kind of there helping me because obviously the initial stage you're pretty dependent on other people to do stuff for you, which can be hard because I'm such an independent person.”
Johnson also got to spend time with some of her extended family who went along to watch the GIANTS’ AFLW clash with Collingwood at Victoria Park on Sunday.
“Obviously it was unfortunate we didn't get the win, but all my family, like my cousins from each side of the family, and my Nan and Pa and my aunties came and watched the game, which was really nice.
“All my cousins are younger than me, so it was good for them to come. Some of them met [teammate and housemate] Poppy [Boltz] which was nice.
“It's unfortunate I can't play at the moment, but seeing them all there just makes me want to play even more and reinforces that that’s what I’m going to be playing for – my family.”
Her road back to playing will take a major step in the coming weeks, with Johnson’s rehab to kick up a gear following her return from Melbourne.
“I'm at this stage where I'm prepping to run,” she said of her ACL recovery.
“So I’ve just started doing running mechanics, getting movement back in my knee, and then hopefully I can start running soon.
“I've done a lot of running in the pool now, so hopefully I’ll do some on land work [rehab] when I get back to training on Wednesday and then hopefully some AlterG running not too long after that.
“And then, if everything goes well, then I’ll hit the criteria for me running before the [2026] home and away season ends.”
Returning to running is something Johnson can’t wait for.
“It's so, so exciting for me because I feel like as soon as I'll be able to run I can be out with the team more and be a bit more included.
“I'm not saying that I'm not included right now, but obviously I'm pretty much in the gym all training or in the pool, or on the bike. So just being out on the field again will be so good.
“Hopefully it'll [rehab] just fly a bit faster when I start running and everything and hopefully I’ll be back in no time.”
While she knows she’s still got some big hurdles to jump, the talented number two pick has her eyes firmly set on a big 2027 campaign.
“Round one next year is definitely the goal.
“The physios are saying I can be back training for the full pre-season, so a goal for me right now is improving my fitness and improving my skills. I have so much time to also get stronger in the upper body as well.
“So I’ll be trying to get a lot more strength and treat it as another pre-season.
“So playing in round one is definitely the goal, first I just want to have an uninterrupted pre-season and really just tear it up so that I can hopefully put myself in the best position I can to have a good season next year.”
