Here's an idea before posting in a thread: Read the thread and click the links to articles being discussed.
As I have stated I am not disputing that Matthew Liptak has spent a year investigating knee reconstructions, and that he is soon to publish a research paper
analysing 131 knee reconstructions undergone by AFL footballers from 1990 to 2000. What I am asking is has
he analysed knee reconstructions of NON AFL players who have used the alternate operation and if so will he also be publishing a research paper on these findings.
The article you refer to express his opinions as well as opinions of Peter Larkins. In their opinions, several scenarios are proposed, (which I do not dispute) in which something may go wrong, but things may also go wrong in day to day simple operations.
So in my view, my opinion, which differs from Matthew Liptaks quoted opinion piece, can be best summed up by the following post submitted by J-Swan
Two things jump out at me from that article.
1 - These blokes had their ops in the 80"s, that's 20 odd years ago.
Medicine changes drastically in 2 years let alone 18 years, and
2 - There are many,
many players who have had conventional knee recos and have not been able to come back
I'm not saying it's not risky and I'm not saying it will work and we'll have him back better then ever by mid-season (though this is what I pray for) but
I'm saying that I have complete faith in the Sydney medical team and I don't believe they would have taken this decision lightly. Mal has already had one reco so he himself would have been pretty au fait on the procedure and I think Sydney, as a club have a lot riding on Mal and see him very much as our future.
There would have been an awful lot of research done before this decision was made.
At the end of the day you would prefer to accept the opinion of Matthew Liptak. That's fine by me. However, I am a great believer of advancements made in medical procedures and as such, provided that the player, Nick Malceski, was willing to undergo the procedure and was totally informed of the risks involved, ( and here we must assume that he was advised accordingly) then I hope that the Sydney medical team undertook the right procedure and that the fears of Matthew Liptak are unfounded.
As I previously stated, in about 10 weeks time, hopefully, we will all know if it (the operation) has been a success or a failure. Let's hope for his sake that it will be successful, with no complications, and that he returns to a fruitful sensational football career.

