SYDNEY Swans defender Nick Malceski knows he will always be known as the first AFL player to undergo the LARS procedure, which uses synthetic fibre to repair damaged knee ligaments.

Dubbed the 'Bionic Man' after first having it done in 2008, Malceski has been a virtual case study for Australian sport ever since, particularly after undergoing a second bout of LARS earlier this year.

While some remain sceptical about the procedure, Malceski is a passionate LARS advocate and says without the technique he would have retired, rather than be on the verge of his 100th AFL game.

Malceski first ruptured a knee ligament in 2002, undergoing a traditional reconstruction, before the two LARS operations, and will finally reach his milestone match against Fremantle on Sunday.

He believes if Swans doctor Nathan Gibbs hadn't approached him about LARS in early 2008, his career would be over.

"I reckon [my career would be over]. I did my knee in my second year here and missed a whole year of footy and then debuted in 2005 and played five games," Malceski said on Wednesday.

"I've done (the two knee injuries since) at the start of the season, so I would've missed two full years and trying to get back after that would've been pretty hard and taken its toll.

"I came off a pretty good year in '07 and at the start of '08 I did it down in Launceston and I was shattered.

"I remember sitting in the rooms thinking, 'I’m going to miss another whole year of footy'.

"Then Nathan Gibbs came up to me and said 'there's another way to do it'. The club looked into it, I looked into it and I did it straight away knowing I was only going to miss three months of footy.

"Obviously it was nerve-wracking because I was the first one to do it and I took that into the second one and was a lot more positive and a lot stronger with the procedure."

Rather than being bemused by all the attention he has received, Malceski has taken it all in his stride.

The one adjustment Malceski has had to make is getting used to the phone calls he gets asking his advice on knee surgery.

"I've just had to get used to all the phone calls asking how it's going and whether other blokes should get it or not," Malceski said.

"I get a few calls and I tell them what I went through and what you need to do to get back on the horse.

"Even local footy players from back in Melbourne have called me and asked me about it."

When Malceski's first LARS surgery failed, there were plenty of calls for him to undergo a traditional reconstruction, but the running defender said the second LARS operation was easier than the first.

"It actually recovered a lot better because I didn't have bone bruising," he said.

"With the screws being drilled in the first time, I already had the holes there for the second one.

"They just thread it through the bones and there it goes."

A proud club man, Malceski is pleased his name will now be inscribed on a Swans locker for reaching 100 games.

During his press conference, he also brought up the other ways that can be achieved.

"For a premiership [you get your name on the locker], I missed out on that in '06 by a point - it would've been nice to get that one.

"And father-son [is another way] too, so I might have to start popping them out soon."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the AFL or the clubs