Ebert, 26, opted to follow in Rodan’s footsteps and have the revolutionary surgery, after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in the first quarter of the Power’s 29-point win over Melbourne last weekend.
Rodan had a synthetic ligament inserted into his knee when he tore his ACL at a pre-season training session in December.
The 27-year-old returned to the field against Geelong in round four and was soon back to his game-breaking best, taking out the Peter Badcoe VC medal for his best-on-ground performance against St Kilda the next week.
Rodan has played every game since and said he was confident Ebert would also make a successful recovery from the surgery.
“Brett’s pretty professional with all his training and his rehab and he’s got the perfect body to come back from it,” Rodan said on Thursday.
“He’s a ball of muscle and that definitely helps with this type of procedure, having all that muscle around his knee. Brett and I spoke a few times after the game and also over the phone.
“He was curious about the LARS procedure, but he sounded pretty positive which was great because most of the battle with knee and long-term injuries is mental.”
Rodan was back running within a month of having surgery and was ready to play by round one of the SANFL season.
He followed the same program the Swans’ medical staff set for Nick Malceski and said he would encourage Ebert to adhere to the same plan.
“When we first started…the fitness guys and I didn’t really know what we were doing. We were going on what Nick Malceski did and a few other things,” Rodan said.
“With the traditional reconstruction you’re sitting down for six or seven weeks, but with this procedure you’re walking straight after surgery or the very next day if you want to… and that’s the trap with LARS.
“You can get really ahead of yourself and think you can do things when you really can’t, so I was pretty lucky that these guys [the medical staff] pulled me back and made me go to the program.
“Brett will definitely feel that way, but I’ll be on him to slow it down.”
Rodan will round out his miraculous comeback by lining up in his 150th game this weekend, ironically against the club that delisted him - Richmond.
The Fijian-born onballer was offered a lifeline by the Power with the last ‘live’ pick in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft, after being delisted by the Tigers 12 months after having a traditional reconstruction on his other knee.
Rodan said there were times during his career when he thought the 150-game milestone was out of reach.
“When it did end [at Richmond] I thought it was the end. I knew I wanted to try hard to get back in, but I also knew it was going to be very difficult. Port Adelaide threw me a lifeline and I’m forever grateful for that,” he said.
“Then I did my knee. I didn’t think I was going to play all this year and that it would be a waste of another year, but I had the LARS procedure and it’s been amazing.
“I didn’t know whether I would get back for one or two games, but I’ve played most of them, so I’m pretty happy with that.”
