Ahead of his 100th first grade game, Canberra prop Dane Tilse says he's proud of the way he's bounced back from the most turbulent of career beginnings to establish himself in the NRL.

In 2005, a 20-year-old Tilse was sacked from Newcastle and deregistered for an entire season by the NRL after he was named as one of 12 Knights players investigated for misconduct at a university campus after a pre-season game in Bathurst.

The police laid no charges against any of the players named by the club, yet Tilse was banished from all forms of the game for a year and his rugby league future was left in tatters.

However, Tilse has proven that footballers can make good on a second chance and in five seasons has built himself into a promising and, more importantly, respected player.

Tilse admitted things got off to a terrible start but said he was always confident he could turn things around.

"I think so. It was obviously a very rocky start in my career and it could have knocked my confidence around that kind of thing," he told AAP ahead of bringing up his tonne against Cronulla on Saturday night.

"But I never lost sight of the fact that this is what I wanted to do and in some respects it made me work a bit harder to get there and appreciate it a bit more.

"I never lost sight. I always felt someone would pick me up. I had played Junior Kangaroos and was confident in my ability to do it. I never thought it wouldn't happen but it was a pretty major setback."

Just 25 and having missed an entire season, Tilse has made short work of the 100-game milestone and representative jerseys are possible if he continues his strong development.

The Scone Thoroughbreds junior is the biggest man in rugby league at exactly 200cm - six centimetres taller than team-mate David Shillington.

Tilse has cemented his place in Canberra's land of the giants, alongside fellow monster forwards Shillington, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs and Scott Logan.

"It has come around very quick. I know at the start of the year I was hoping to achieve it this year. I've had a good run with injuries over the years so it's worked out well," he said.

"The Raiders have been unreal for me, I feel quite at home down here.

"I'm more one of the senior guys so I've tried to take on a small leadership role in the team and I've been happy to nail a spot down in such a good forward pack.

"(100 games) means you're a regular first grader and you have achieved something.

"I've got a lot of years ahead of me so realistically, a good career goal for me from this point would mean making 200.

"I just want to put myself in a position to have a long career now, so hopefully I can get the best footy out of me in the years ahead, which they say happens for a front rower."

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