THIS TIME last year, Collingwood defender Ben Reid had just strung six senior games together for the first time in his career after a spluttering start to his fourth season. 

He played in the AFL in round two, had gone back to the VFL for a fortnight and was enjoying the consecutive string of games after finally convincing the match committee he was getting closer become an important part of the side's backline.

Today, the 22-year-old is a premiership player who has missed just two games - rounds 20 and 21 last year with a quad complaint - since embarking on that run.

"It's been a bit crazy, the last 12 months. A whirlwind, really," he told afl.com.au this week.

"I'm just really grateful Mick [Malthouse] and [defensive coach] Scotty Watters gave me that opportunity to play and the confidence to play my role.

"Things have changed a lot. When you do eventually play few games in a row, you start to get that confidence from other players.

"I think that helps you more than anything, when you've got the confidence from the guys around you, and they know you'll play your role each week."

Reid's ambitions and goals haven't changed, despite the fact he no longer faces the stresses associated with trying to earn that first game in the senior side, and then the tough task of holding his spot.

He said he's made "a bit of an in-road" in his aim to become more consistent, and has continued to attempt to model his game on experienced backmen Matthew Scarlett and Dustin Fletcher.

He's also made sure he's absorbed all the information he can get from new teammate and 241-game player Chris Tarrant, based on the impact such lessons from now-retired defender Simon Prestigiacomo had over the past few years.

"Taz has helped the back six with the experience he's had over his career and he speaks to me regularly, weekly just about, about players he's played on and that sort of thing," he said.

"'Browny' (fellow young defender Nqthan Brown) and I took a lot from Presti last year. He was a great player for Collingwood for 200-plus games and the stuff he helped us out with, like the players he'd played on that are still around now, was huge.

"He taught us a few tricks about different players and that always helped."

When Tarrant returned last year via a trade, Reid was among the younger Magpies who weren't at the club before the 2003 All Australian left for Fremantle in 2006.

In fact, the trade that originally moved Tarrant west saw the Magpies get Paul Medhurst and selection No.8 overall in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft - the pick the Pies would then use on Reid - in return. 

"It's funny how that worked out and he's back at the club now," Reid said.

"When we went to Arizona this pre-season, we roomed together and the first thing he said to me was, 'Are you sure you still want that No.20?'

"I just said, 'Yeah, I wouldn't mind keeping it.' It would have taken a fair bit for me to give it back to him."

Reid spent the altitude training trip not only rooming with Tarrant but also completing his weights sessions and portions of his training with the former forward, which he said had a big impact on accelerating their friendship.

He said while it took a few weeks for the Pies' new-look back six, which is without Prestigiacomo and injured premiership defender Nathan Brown from last year, to learn how to work together, they were across each other's games now.

"Browny has been a big loss for us but we're lucky to have Taz because he's been a good full back for the last few years," he said.

"He's has slotted in like he never left. He's come into the back line and it probably took him and I a couple of weeks to gel but since then I think we've been playing well together.

"He's been playing pretty good football. It's important for us to work together, and Arizona really helped us, and my training.

"He works as hard as anyone in the gym and it really helped me going along with him as well."