SYDNEY Swan Jude Bolton will find himself in very rare air on Friday night when he joins the exclusive 300-game club.

More than 12,000 players have competed in the 115-year history of the VFL/AFL competition, yet just 66 have reached the 300-game milestone.

Bolton will become the 67th against Collingwood in Friday night's preliminary final at ANZ Stadium and what makes his effort more remarkable is the way he approaches the game.

The leading tackler in the sport's history, Bolton is renowned for his reckless style of football, typically displaying scant regard for his own welfare.

Since making his debut in round 12, 1999, however, Bolton has missed a total of just eight games.

Swans physio and rehabilitation co-ordinator Matt Cameron has given an insight into the 32-year-old, saying Bolton has a remarkable ability to put injuries and pain to one side and still perform at a high level.

But it is his positive thinking that may hold the key to his longevity.

Three of the eight games Bolton missed came after his knee buckled against Carlton in round 19 this year - a moment when the Swans' medical staff feared the worst.

"We were worried that night with how his knee looked and Jude was the most confident of anyone that he was going to be right," Cameron told AFL.com.au.

"That sums him up. Everyone else thought in the back of their mind 'we know what this means; this could mean either his season is over or, even worse, his career'.

"And yet he was the one instantly, I remember him saying, 'she'll be right, I'll be right'. And he was."

Bolton himself admits he initially feared the worst sitting on the sideline during that Carlton game, when luck also played a part, before his positive approach kicked in.

"A lot of it's between the ears," Bolton said.

"Sometimes you can be pretty negative about injuries or illness, but if you try to get yourself out of bed and put on a smile and get amongst it, quite often it will lead to a good outcome.

"I know sitting on the sidelines against Carlton I thought it might've been all over when I did my knee, but I was lucky enough to dodge an ACL injury."

Bolton is the third fastest to reach 300 games, behind only teammate Adam Goodes and Adelaide's Mark Ricciuto.

While it is normal for veteran Swans to have their workloads scaled back, even with a degenerative knee condition, Bolton has barely skipped a beat.

"He's carried plenty of structural injuries in the past, AC joints, collarbones, all sorts of things," Cameron said.

"He's got that quality of being able to carry injuries.

"Even his most recent one, his knee, must've been affecting him to some degree, but he was able to put it to one side and will himself through.

"Whether that's his pain threshold or his ability to not let it affect his speed or agility, it's been a great effort."

Cameron has been with the Swans since 1995 and has presided over the only three players in the club's history to reach 300 games - Goodes, Michael O'Loughlin and now Bolton.

Many of the AFL's storied clubs have very few 300-gamers. Melbourne has just one in David Neitz. Collingwood and Geelong each have two.

Of the 66 players to reach the mark, 22 have come since the VFL became the AFL in 1990.

Cameron believes a different approach to training and recovery has helped massively reduce injuries sustained during the week.

"When I started, 50 per cent of injuries were from training and 50 per cent from games," he said.

"Physios and doctors and conditioning staff were more reactive. We dealt with injuries that we received.

"But now we're more and more involved in trying to prevent injuries.

"We don't like to do anything for 48 hours after a game, even with the healthy players, because we believe that puts even the healthy players at risk.

"The whole prevention side didn't exist 15 years ago and now would take up half of our time."

When it comes to Bolton, his approach to football has earned him universal respect among his peers.

"You just know what you're going to get from him," Collingwood's Tyson Goldsack said.

"He's so consistent and such a hard nut and I guess that's Sydney's brand of footy. He just leads the way in that regard.

"He's a very good player and has been for a long time."

James Dampney is a reporter for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_JD