WHEN the Collingwood squad flew to Arizona in November last year, emerging ruckman Jonathon Ceglar was left behind with a simple instruction - to hit the gym and eat as much as he could.

The 20-year-old and his lean teammate Lachlan Keeffe were given specific programs that involved lifting heavy things. When they weren't doing that, they had to have food in their hands.

Having arrived at the club weighing 86kg and with a naturally fast metabolism, a lot of Ceglar's focus has been on increasing his body mass and getting stronger since late 2010.

Working with VFL and development coach Tarkyn Lockyer while the rest of the Pies were taking on altitude training in the US, the Albury-Wodonga native stacked on four kilos in the two-and-a-half week period.  

"It was a real focused program with weights, and lots of food. I didn't do as much extra cardio as I had been doing but lots more big weight sessions," Ceglar told AFL.com.au this week.

"I have to make sure my food intake is big all the time. If I don't eat, I can drop weight quite easily and I've got make sure I'm still doing my weights and still eating heaps.

"That's a constant battle for me."

The 204cm ruckman was unable to train until this stage of last pre-season due to the knee tendonitis that also kept him from the Pies' 2010 Arizona trip.

Since then, he's put on 10kg - and has accepted the frustrations associated with being lightly framed, and the time required to become strong enough to compete with the AFL's big men in either the ruck or attack.

"There can always be more. I'm getting closer," he said.

"It's definitely frustrating because your body is just not big enough to compete with blokes like Darren Jolly, who's massive, but you don't want to use it as an excuse.

"You just want to do all you can to fast-track it."

Incidentally, it was Jolly who sent Ceglar running from Gosch's Paddock with blood streaming down his face - and a requirement for 10 staples - after a knee-to-head collision at training last week.

Ceglar said the competition between the big men - Jolly, Cameron Wood, rookie Shae McNamara and the newly arrived New South Wales scholarship player Jarrod Witts - was fierce.

Witts was one of the players Ceglar lived with in the Magpies' first-year player house last year. Between the two of them, they racked up an enormous food bill as Witts fuelled his huge frame and Ceglar tried to boost his.

With much hype surrounding the 208cm Witts' arrival and potential to play senior football this year, Ceglar could be forgiven for feeling nervous about his chances of breaking through for his debut.

But he said the presence of the hulking youngster had only made him more determined across the pre-season, and he had already benefitted from the arrival of ruck coach John Barnes.

"It is competitive and everyone wants to play but we're all striving for the same goal - to be a successful club," he said.

"I can only control what I can control and work as hard as I can and on my weaknesses. I don't worry about Wittsy or Woody or anyone like that - we drive each other."

Ceglar wasn't always a promising football talent. He started playing at a young age, influenced by his father David, who played seven games for North Melbourne between 1986 and 1987.

A sudden growth spurt when he became a teenager made things hard. He turned his attention to cricket and played the sports concurrently until the Murray Bushrangers approached him as he neared 18.

He then started to grow into his body and worked out how he could use it to his advantage. And then, the decision was easy.

"It was the first time I'd ever played rep footy [with the Bushrangers], and then again as a 19-year-old the following year," he said.

"Once the Bushies started, I just decided to go with footy from then on.

"I just went there to get fitness and then just slowly worked my way into contention."

In a two-year period, he went from struggling in the under-18s to being on an AFL list after Gold Coast agreed to pre-list him, and then bundled him up with Andrew Krakouer and swapped the pair for the Pies' NAB AFL Draft pick of No.25.

So quick was his rise to prominence, Ceglar had started an electrician apprenticeship when he was told Collingwood was interested in him.

Still, he intends to finish his apprenticeship this year on his weekly day off so he has something when football isn't a full time job.

In 2011, he had a year that "wasn't great but wasn't a disaster" on the back of a limited pre-season. He played 15 VFL games, spent time at full forward and in the ruck, and kicked nine goals.

He described it as a "learning experience" about the demands of senior VFL football. Despite its frustrations, it also made him keener to progress in 2012. 

"I never really banked on football. I had work, which was good, and I enjoyed it. I worked with good people and it was fun," he said.

"Now I've had a pretty good pre-season with not too many interruptions. I'll put my hand up for NAB Cup next.

"I'm a bit heavier and as long as I keep putting on weight, my goal this year is to play senior footy."

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