PORT Adelaide midfielder David Rodan says he's confident he can replicate last season's miraculous return from injury as he prepares to make an earlier than expected comeback from a third knee reconstruction.

2011 Preseason Coverage
 
After injuring his left knee in a training mishap in December 2009, Rodan became the second AFL player after Sydney Swans defender Nick Malceski to have the revolutionary LARS procedure.
 
The 27-year-old returned to the field in 16 weeks and quickly regained peak form, winning the Peter Badcoe VC medal for best on ground in the Power's ANZAC weekend clash with St Kilda in his second game back.
 
He played the last 19 games of the season, but faced the prospect of another stint on the sidelines when he heard a 'pop' in his knee during a routine training drill in November.
 
Initial scans on Rodan's knee were inconclusive, but an arthroscopy revealed the ligament had frayed and that another reconstruction was necessary.
 
Having lost a year at Richmond recovering from a reconstruction on his other knee, Rodan was reluctant to consider the traditional method and asked his surgeon about the viability of a second LARS procedure.
 
The LARS operation, which involves inserting a ligament made of industrial-strength polyester fibres into the knee joint, boasts a good success rate in its relatively short history and Rodan said he had accepted the failure of his ligament as bad luck.
 
"I was in a very dark place early on," Rodan told afl.com.au from Port Adelaide's Telstra AFL Community Camp in the Clare Valley.

"I knew pretty much straight away what I'd done and it was very shattering to know that I'd be out for another few months.
 
"As soon as I did it I got on the phone to a few people and made sure of all the options possible. When I knew LARS was an option I jumped at the chance.
 
"I knew having LARS meant I was going to come back and get back to what I could do before. I got a lot of confidence out of last year and being able to play some of the football I think I can play."
 
Surgeons replaced the frayed original ligament with a new one and Rodan was back cycling and walking laps of Alberton Oval within a week.
 
He said the procedure had been less invasive the second time around.
 
"There's less trauma for the knee the second time because the surgeons can pretty much use the same holes and didn't have to go through bone or muscle again," he said.
 
"We did assess and see what we could do better from last year from a rehab point of view and it's been a bit smoother process. It's also been good to know what to expect having been through it already."
 
Rodan will graduate to full training over the next fortnight and has been earmarked to make his return in Port Adelaide's season opener against Collingwood.
 
However, the Fijian-born onballer didn't rule out getting some much-needed match practice in the club's last NAB Challenge game.
 
"The hardest part is over and the next month is pretty exciting for me," he said.
 
"I don't think I'm too far away, maybe a month give or take. I don't know the specific date because it'll depend each week with the volume of training increasing and how my knee pulls up from that."