Daniel Bradshaw is remaining positive he will play again this season as he heads in for his latest bout of surgery tomorrow.

The Swans key forward will have an operation to release the iliotibial band (ITB) which runs along the side of his thigh.

Bradshaw says the surgery should give him more flexibility in his knee and ease the pain which has stopped him training for the past three months.

Bradshaw admits it has been very tough dealing with his latest knee injury, but he wants to make sure he tries every option to fix the chronic problem.

“I feel in my mind I can still play. What I’ve been doing most of the year hasn’t been working but there are still a few options I can try to hopefully get back this year,’’ Bradshaw told sydneyswans.com.au.

“I want to know in my own mind that I’ve tried everything,  then at the end of the day if the body is saying no, there is not much you can do, so I just hope we don’t get to that stage.’’

The doctors have told Bradshaw that if the operation tomorrow is successful, he will be back running in three weeks and could be back playing in six to eight weeks.

“They seem pretty confident it might help a little bit. I hope in three to four weeks time we’ll know if it has worked,’’ he said.

“The operation should take a bit of pressure off the knee cap. We’re thinking this is one of the last options I’ve got, there are not too many other things I can do so fingers crossed it comes good.

“It has been tough. I’ve had ups and downs and that is why I’ve got to the stage where I have to try something rather than it staying the same, and we’ll see what happens in the next few weeks,’’ he said.

“I’ve been able to run fine but when I try to step it up and do the more the explosive stuff such as changing direction and sprinting off the mark, it has been giving me grief. It feels like it’s going to give way when I push hard through it.’’

If this ITB operation doesn’t work, Bradshaw has the option of undergoing a LARS knee reconstruction, which would replace the ligament in his knee. That is the same operation that has allowed Nick Malceski to get back on the playing field 10 weeks after he ruptured his ACL.

But that is something he hopes won’t be necessary.

“I’ll go in tomorrow and try to be positive.’’

And if it doesn’t work?  “It has crossed my mind. I don’t like to think about it, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to that stage.

“There have been times in my mind where I started to question whether it’s ever going to be right … as soon as I tried full training and full on drills it wasn’t right and once it got stirred up I got bone bruising and had to step back.  So it’s been two steps forward and one back.

“But I just want to try everything I can and if I don’t get back this year, hopefully I can play next year and finish off my contract on a good note.’’