BRISBANE Lions utility Brent Staker will miss the entire 2012 season after deciding on traditional reconstructive surgery on his ruptured ACL.

Staker will see a specialist in Brisbane on Saturday with the hope of undergoing surgery next week.

It is the same knee he had LARS surgery on following a round one injury against Fremantle.

It is a crushing blow for Staker who missed three months of footy following the initial surgery, only to re-injure it six matches into his comeback.

The 27-year-old sought a number of opinions on the best course of action following the latest injury against West Coast on August 27.

As well as speaking to Lions' doctors, Staker flew to Sydney to speak with Dr Daniel Biggs, who worked on Swan Nick Malceski through his LARS surgery.

Despite realising traditional surgery would require 12 months of rehabilitation, Staker said it was his only realistic option.

"The writing was on the wall that I had to get traditional [surgery], but missing another season is devastating," Staker said.

"That joy of playing footy you can't replace in day-to-day life, that thrill of running out on the field in that team environment, I'm going to miss it.

"It's not the end of the world but that's 22 games I'll miss out on. I just have to get on with it and get bigger and stronger for 2013."

Staker said although neither the traditional or LARS methods were foolproof, he had lost a little trust in LARS.

"It still works, look at Malceski and [David] Rodan, Brett Ebert, it's been proven it does work, it's not to say LARS doesn't work, it's more that my leg didn't heal properly and whether it was traditional or LARS, it was going to break anyway," he said.

"I just feel this time around I've done the LARS and I feel this is the best option for me."

Staker said he was initially hopeful of just some bruising on the knee after being able to walk around following the seemingly innocuous incident against the Eagles.

However, once the scans confirmed his worst fears, he hit rock bottom.

"I was pretty flat after having such a solid year rehab-wise and getting myself back into the team, it's not easy. For it to happen again, quite frankly, it's shattering.

"I didn't take any short cuts last time and I won't take any this time. I want to give myself the best possible chance.

"I took it as a challenge last time and I'm going to take it as another challenge this time. The light at the end of the tunnel is 2013 and that's my goal at the moment."

Michael Whiting covers Brisbane Lions news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mike_whiting