He still had to get through Friday's closed training session to rubber-stamp his selection for Sunday's game against St Kilda, but coach John Longmire said Rohan was ready to return from the broken leg suffered in round four last year.
"We announced it downstairs in front of the players (on Tuesday) and to be honest he was probably a little bit emotional," Longmire said.
"He kept telling me for the last three weeks to pick him and I've ignored him to a certain degree, but I think when we finally said 'OK mate, you're in', I think it did hit him in terms of how much work he's been able to do.
"Blokes like (Fremantle midfielder) Michael Barlow and others across the competition we've seen over the years are probably the only ones that can fully understand the amount of work and challenges that Gary's had to face."
Considered a long shot of returning to any sort of football at times in 2013, Longmire admits the 22-year-old is well ahead of his expectations.
"At the start of this year, we thought if he was able to get back and play reserves football, I thought that was a big tick for him," he said.
"If he was to have a big pre-season and get into next year after two or three reserves games under his belt, that was probably my expectations at the start of this year.
"They were very low and was based upon just what happens with those injuries from other people, you get some setbacks.
"He's been able to get over those setbacks pretty quickly, so he's probably surpassed my expectations, which is a real credit to a young bloke from the bush."
A substitute's role would appear a strong option for the lightning-quick youngster, although Longmire said he was ready "for 100 minutes of footy".
Rohan himself has also been surprised by his progress.
“I found out on Tuesday before training and 'Horse' (Longmire) brought us all in and announced it then,” Rohan told the Swans' website.
“It hit me pretty hard because I wasn’t expected to play so soon, but I was very excited that all of the hard work I’ve done has paid off.
“I thought I’d struggle a bit when I came back (via the reserves), but I played pretty well and have played consistently and now I’m finally playing seniors.”
Longmire was also quizzed about Adam Goodes, who is getting closer to a return following knee surgery.
The dual Brownlow medallist injured the knee against Port Adelaide in round 13 and is on track to return for the premiers' final home-and-away match of the season against Hawthorn.
"I am confident (he'll play before the finals), but it'll be still a couple of weeks away," Longmire said.
"It won't be probably until the last game. There's he and (fellow injured Swans) 'Jetts' (Lewis Jetta) and 'Reidy' (Sam Reid).
"Adam did a really solid running session two days ago and pulled up really well.
"As we know he comes to hand pretty quickly, how much quicker he comes to hand at 33 I’m not quite sure, but hopefully it's pretty quick.
"He shouldn't be far away by the last game."
Twitter: @AFL_JD
