"Rube's is chomping at the bit to get me back in and start working me out and he was really good for me today. He just broke me into it and I'm sure over the coming weeks he'll test me out more.
"It was pretty tough but it's just about taking it day by day. And its feeling better every day - my foot, my ankle, everything - so I'm glad it's heading in the right direction.
"I've done a couple of weights sessions this week. I've come in three times so that's the plan until the offseason and then I'll be able to make some serious gains with rehabbing and getting some range back in it.
"The 24-year-old knows there will be days ahead when enthusiasm and motivation are in short supply, but just needs to look around him to find reasons to keep plugging away.
"There will be sessions, even the one this morning, where I'm on the grinder, but what for at this stage? Why am I doing it? But you've got to find a reason," he said.
"I've got some other players down there with me. Ben Henry is a classic example. He's been doing that all year, so really, I don't have it too bad, do I? There's always someone worse off than you."
Next year's Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines tournament at Eden Park over Waitangi weekend February 6 and 7 is the light at the end of the tunnel. Johnson's dominant cut and thrust performances over the first two years of the tournament have come to define the short-form game, and he is desperate to feature in the third edition and embrace his status as the event's poster boy.
"The Nines is a massive tournament for me and the people of New Zealand. For the Warriors, we love playing in it, so I wouldn't want to miss it. That falls well outside that recovery period so I should be able to get there.
"The only way I resonate with it [the Nines] is being a local kid growing up here, and if there was a tournament like this that came in, I would love nothing more than to go to it.
"That's why I want to do everything I can to give kids that experience. If that means me being the face of it then that's the angle I'll come at it from.
"Watching on from the coach's box as the Warriors struggle in his absence has been difficult, but his stint as a spectator has given him a fresh outlook on the game he loves.
He'll be there again for today's final home game against the North Queensland Cowboys as the Warriors look to end a five-game losing streak.
"I've watched on from there before and Cappy [coach Andrew McFadden] said "usually players watch one and you don't want to come back", but I get a lot out of it, just seeing what the coaches think.
"For me, it's about learning about the game now and finding areas and seeing things through different eyes and just being a sponge and absorbing everything."I've got to get something out of this time away from the game and will probably find a bit out about myself."
