Watch him run out before kick-off for a game and you'd swear he'd already been toiling away for 80 minutes.

Ten minutes in and he looks completely busted. Just walking around, it's like he is harbouring the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Some say it's just his gait - the way he shuffles around. A by-product perhaps of a series of ankle surgeries earlier in his career.

Coach Adam O'Brien probably summed it up better than most this week when he said: "If you saw Dos at the saleyards, you ain't buying him. But hey, looks can be real deceiving."

Indeed they can. Guerra will celebrate a huge personal milestone on Saturday against South Sydney at Bankwest Stadium when he plays his 200^th NRL game.

For a kid who dreamed early on that rugby league could be his ticket out of his home town of Townsville to see the world, it's understandably a big deal.

Now into his 11^th season at the top level, he's been a wonderful survivor.

"Yeah, I'm pretty proud of it and excited at the same time,"Guerra said of the milestone.

"There are a lot of boys that have helped me get there and I've played with some pretty special people along the way so I'm real excited to run out this weekend with this group of blokes here at the Knights."

Winding the clock back, Melbourne was the first club to take an interest in a teenage Guerra.

They signed him to a modest two year deal just after he'd finished high school and he moved to Brisbane in 2006 for two years to play with feeder club Norths Devils.

A couple of games into his second season, he broke his ankle and was gone for the year. Storm coach Craig Bellamy was one of the first to call him to let him know not to stress. That he was still wanted.

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But the ankle went again and after four surgeries in two years, Guerra could see his path to the NRL blocked by some pretty handy players at the Storm so he signed with the Sydney Roosters. It was a decision that went down like a lead balloon with Bellamy.

"I think I signed with the Roosters on a Monday or Tuesday and he told me to pack my bags the following day,"Guerra said.

"There wasn't too much footy left in the season and I didn't feel like I was on the first grade radar anyway. But at the time, it felt like it was real personal.

"I can't tell you what they were thinking but it was a bit sour the way things went down. Since then though, we say gidday to each other whenever our sides play."

While he'll never know what may have eventuated had he stayed in Melbourne, his eight seasons at the Roosters were full of career highlights.

The premiership win over Manly in 2013, his Origin debut and a Test appearance the following year in 2014, among the most memorable.

"Everyone was talking about us winning the competition in 2013 and in the back of my mind, I was thinking 'can we do it'. I didn't know what it took to win one so to be a part of it was great," he said.

While he would love to have his only Test appearance off the bench back again following a loss to the Kiwis, his Maroons Origin debut remains special.

"It's probably the moment in my career that I hold close to my heart as the most special," he said. "Playing Origin, standing in the middle of the field singing the National Anthem looking at my family in the fifth row right in front of me.

"My mum, my dad, my brothers, my now wife - that was a dream come true and to see how proud they were, that was real special. I'm not an emotional guy but that one was about as emotional as it gets for me."

Now in the twilight of his career, Guerra is as passionate about the game and doing all he can for the Knights as he ever has been with O'Brien saying: "I know that he is going to give us everything he's got - I feel comfortable with that.

"He's a smart footy player. Sometimes he can look busted out there but he just knows what he has to do to get his job done.

"You only get that through experience and that's what 200 games gives you. He's very intelligent. When he speaks, he makes sense. He'd make a good coach down the track if he wanted to."

As for those body language issues and being told he looks tired running out, Guerra laughs.

"The warm-ups are pretty tough these days you know."

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