"Possibly from my hip, I'm not quite sure," the Tuggeranong Hawks captain said.

The 26-year-old midfielder has been under the knife that many times, he can't remember all the details.

All he knows is, when he runs out for his 100^th appearance as the Hawks host Eastlake at Greenway Oval on Saturday, it will have been worth it.

Worth the moments of heartache. Like in the last half of the last game in his debut season, when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament aged 16.

Or the fear of thinking he had done it again in his first game back the next year - he hadn't, so strapping tape got him through the season before his knee was cleaned out.

Or the sheer devastation of knowing he had torn his ACL after the 2016 opener.

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"It wasn't very good at all, and because of the nature of the first operation, this one had to be a two-parter. I had two surgeries three months apart," Symons said.

"I had to have a bone transfusion to fix the old hole from my previous ACL tear, and then three months later, once that was healed, I had to go back in and get the full reconstruction.

"That was a pretty shit year."

Even when he was gone for two seasons, "the thought of retiring never actually crossed my mind".

"I couldn't see myself not playing, even in the two years I had off, I was at training every night," Symons said.

"When I was able to run again I was running messages and whatnot. I couldn't see myself not doing anything, I couldn't sit around twiddling my thumbs, I had to be down there with them."

When the time came to return, Symons found himself "walking on eggshells" in fear of ruining his knee again.

Slowly but surely, he forgot about the pain and the nerves, and he began to play for a different kind of moment.

Like Tuggeranong securing their first win in two years a week ago.

Now, wearing white, blue and red to mark the league's heritage round, Tuggeranong will go in search of another.

Tuggeranong wore the design from 1989-92 in a bid to foster better relationships between the Lions and Bulldogs feeder clubs - both of whom are still producing juniors today.

At a time in which the club is so reliant on its juniors, the timing has perhaps never been more fitting.

"We knew after last year it was going to be a bit of hard work, getting back to being really competitive again, but everyone is positive about the times ahead," Symons said.

"We've got a lot of good juniors coming through at the moment. The main key at the moment is just to keep everyone together.

"It's an exciting time for the future."

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Saturday: Round 10 - Belconnen Magpies v Gungahlin Jets at Kippax Oval. Ainslie Tricolours v Queanbeyan Tigers at Alan Ray Oval. Tuggeranong Hawks v Eastlake Demons at Greenway Oval. All games at 1.15pm.