HOW DOES a young, aspiring AFL footballer overcome the barrier of two knee reconstructions at the very start of their journey to earn a chance at an elite career?

For sure, it takes a lot of blood and sweat.

But it also takes a special kind of resolve from which a select group of AFL players have carved their names.

At Port Adelaide, it is names like Warren Tredrea, Michael Wilson and Brendon Lade - leaders who overcame multiple injuries to blossom into key cogs in the Power machine during the its dominant era in the early 2000s.

Campbell Heath, a new trade acquisition for the Power, is by no means a Tredrea, Wilson or Lade.

But while he needs a few more runs on the park to be considered in their light at Alberton, his resolve to give himself the best possible chance after two knee reconstructions before the age of 20 certainly takes after their grit.

Speaking exclusively to PortAdelaideFC.com.au, Heath was enthusiastic about the opportunity to become part of the team’s fresh look under new coach Ken Hinkley.

His excitement is perhaps no surprise considering the combination of Grand Final success and his own debilitating injury that conspired to keep him out of senior footy in three years at the SCG.

A knee reconstruction in 2011 saw him miss the chance to step into Sydney’s senior side in his second year. By the time 2012 rolled around, the Swans experienced back six was truly settled and stood up all the way to its premiership victory.

Heath instead played all year in the Swans reserves as a solid rebounding defender where he had been closely observed by Port Adelaide’s recruiting team.

There he performed strongly to help the team reach the NEAFL grand final.

It was a significant turnaround from the doldrums of enduring two knee reconstructions in as many years.

“Getting drafted was the high point of my career and then doing my knee four or five months later, I hit rock bottom,” Heath said.

Heath first injured his knee while playing with the Gippsland Power in the Victorian TAC Cup for talented under 18 footballers.

Picked by the Swans in the 2008 national draft, he spent most of his final year of school living at home recuperating from his surgery.

“It was a bit of a struggle there spending 12 months not playing footy as I was finishing school - it was pretty hard on me,” said Heath.

“But suppose getting back and playing footy and knowing it was something I still really loved to do kept me going.

After recovering from surgery, Heath made his AFL debut in round 9, 2010.

It would be the first of his only two AFL games to date before tearing an anterior cruciate ligament at the start of 2011.

Heath says he was confronted by a stark choice to overcome the disappointment and frustration of a second major setback.

That choice was between the reliable, traditional knee reconstruction method, or the time-effective, yet somewhat risky LARS surgery - the innovative process whereby an artificial ligament is used to replace the damaged one.

He resolved to undergo the latter.

It was a decision he doesn’t regret.

“I played a few games in 2010 and then unfortunately did my knee again the following year and was put back to square one - I was pretty devastated,” Heath explains.

“I’d been doubting my body and questioned whether I could play AFL … I was pretty close to pulling the pin about twelve months ago after my second knee ‘reco’.

“So I was pretty rock-bottom.”

It was a meeting with Stuart Maxfield - the former Swans captain-turned-development manager - that reversed his on-field fortunes and crafted him into a quality backup defender.

“I spoke to Stuey Maxfield at the Swans, we sat down one afternoon and we went through what I can do to make me an AFL player and then we did those things and I had a really good year last year and got me to where I am now,” says Heath.

“It was a little bit of a mentality thing but a lot of it was footy-specific stuff.

“Really all I wanted to do was just work on my defence.

“He told me that if I was going to get a senior game at the club I had to be trusted enough to beat my opponent no matter what.

“I had to work on my body work, my timing, all my defensive aspects and made that a real focus for this year just gone.”

It was a chat that bore fruit in 2012 with Heath playing every game in the NEAFL where he was often pitched against the opposition’s key forward.

His resolve to get back on the field and perform to a high standard saw him elevated to the club’s senior list only weeks out from its September campaign - handy insurance should its defensive armour suffer a chink.

“All his [Maxfield’s] work he did with me helped to bring out my strengths for the year so I’m really thankful to him.”

Maxfield helped pioneer Sydney’s ‘Bloods Culture’ during his time as captain.

It was that culture which is credited with the Swans’ victory over Hawthorn in the 2012 AFL Grand Final - one that has seen Sydney feature in 15 of the last 17 finals series.

“The seniors had a bit of a downpatch coming into the finals and the group really came together, united and pushed through the next come of weeks,” said Heath.

“As we all know they ended up winning the premiership.”

“We had this really good self-belief in us all that we could really achieve something special.”

But that culture, says Heath, applied as much off field as it did on field, and it was one of the Swans’ premiership heroes who mentored him throughout his rehabilitation.

Nick Malceski kicked two of the best goals in the final and, like Heath, underwent LARS surgery in the 2011 pre-season.

While Malceski underwent LARS to prolong his career - a decision that evidently reaped the reward of a first premiership medallion - Heath did so to have the opportunity to begin one.

“The year I did my knee was my last on contract [with the Swans] so I really had to be out on the park playing football,” says Heath.

“I had a three-year deal after I left school, the first was gone from my first knee, the second year I played most of the games and the third year I did it again.

“It was too much of a risk [to not have LARS].

“After the recovery I played the second half of the year and got another contract.”

Malceski provided a source of counsel for Heath throughout the rehabilitation process and the competitiveness between the pair was instrumental in the young defender’s fast-tracked recovery.

“He [Malceski] was a massive help.”

“We were really competitive. Everything went well - all our rehab, all our weights, our running just trying to beat each other back.

“He was really great.”

Now Heath is at Port Adelaide.

He comes at a time of significant change for the club, with a new looking coaching group led by senior coach Ken Hinkley.

The departure of free agents Troy Chaplin and Danyle Pearce combined with the delisting of experienced defender Jacob Surjan has left a number of places in the Power’s back six up for grabs.

It’s no surprise that most of the newcomers to the club during trade period, Heath included, are defenders, with GWS Giant Jack Hombsch and former West Coast Eagle Lewis Stevenson also coming to Alberton for 2013.

Combined with the likes of defensive mainstays Hamish Hartlett, Jackson Trengove and Alipate Carlile as well as promoted rookie Tom Jonas, the competition to earn a place against Melbourne in the opening round of 2013 will be fierce this summer.

And Heath is primed for that competition.

With two operations and a solid year in the NEAFL behind him, he is confident in mind, confident in body and looking forward to the next chapter of his career alongside Maffra mates John and Danny Butcher at Alberton.

“My body feels good,” he says.

“Hopefully all those injury are in the past and I can stay out on the park for a few years now.”

Campbell Heath is the first in a series of features on Port Adelaide’s new recruits. Stay tuned to PortAdelaideFC.com.au across the summer to learn more about the club’s new faces.