GEELONG great Tim McGrath has revealed he has cancer and will undergo 12 months of treatment to fight stage three melanoma. 

McGrath, who played 219 games for the Cats between 1992 and 2002, was operated on last month, with doctors removing 33 lymph nodes from under his right arm.

The 42-year-old father of three girls will start interferon treatment later this month, putting his life on hold and giving up work temporarily.

"The treatment's quite brutal," McGrath told K-Rock Football.

"I knew I would have to have some treatment for it post-surgery, but I was sort of thinking maybe four to six weeks of it.

"To be told 12 months is quite confronting and a bit upsetting.

"Interferon is bit a different to chemo or radiation … you're not sure how the treatment's going to affect you."

McGrath, who also played seven games for North Melbourne, held down centre-half back as the Cats made three Grand Finals in four years in the first half of the 1990s.

He said he was "in front and first to move" on the cancer and now had a chance to deal with it and prevent any further issues.

He hopes to encourage other men to be proactive with their health.

"To actually ring up and go to the doctor, you tend to put it off," he said.

"It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. Whether you play AFL footy, you run BHP or you're the little bloke who holds the lollipop sign at the kid's school, no one's immune to these things."

This year's Grand Final Race Day Luncheon at Geelong Racing Club, hosted by K-Rock, will double as a fundraiser for McGrath.

Held on Friday, September 27, tickets cost $1000 for a table of 10 or $120 for a single.