That weight has been sitting firmly on Collingwood youngster Ben Reid’s shoulders for the past three-and-a-half years.
And, after a few years ripening in the AFL system, those shoulders might be ready to shrug off the burden and show Magpie fans why the former Murray Bushranger was selected with pick No.8 in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft.
Reid, who has played eight AFL matches in his three seasons at the Lexus Centre, is better prepared than ever to make his mark at the top level.
“This pre-season’s actually been the hardest one I’ve done since I’ve been here,” he told collingwoodfc.com.au.
“It’s been the first one I’ve got through uninjured, so it’s been good.”
A broken foot and quad injuries have disrupted earlier campaigns.
But now the 20-year-old looks and feels like he’s on the verge of one of those breakout years.
An injury-free summer has allowed the key-position prospect to hit the weights, adding a further four kilos to his 195cm frame.
Now at 98kg, matching some of the competition’s premier forwards won’t be so much of an ask.
Although that task - stopping goals - might have seemed strange to the Magpie a couple of years back.
Finding Reid’s ideal position has also proved a nice problem for the Pies.
The versatile big man was sent forward in his early days in the black and white. He admits it took some time adjusting to life in the back half, where he had played junior football, but settled quickly last season.
“I went from a forward to a back,” he said.
“I had two years as a key forward and you forget a little bit. The start of last season I found it a bit hard, the transition, but half way through I started to grasp hold of it and really got used to playing that role.
“Last year I probably learned from Mark Neeld but this pre-season Scotty Watters has been really good helping me out.”
Reid adjusted so well he finished runner-up in the Pies’ VFL best and fairest team in 2009. In fact, had Collingwood’s senior team not been performing so well and been so settled he could easily have slotted into that side late last season.
“I felt towards the end of the season I was really started to make some inroads, playing that key position back role,” Reid said.
Some promising displays in two intra-club practice matches this year also point to a bright 2010.
The youngster has not only been seen repelling attacks but using his penetrating left boot to switch play on several occasions in the Pies’ scratch matches in what is perhaps a sign of things to come in the home and away season.
Watters, the Pies’ new defensive coach and an assistant to Mick Malthouse, has been working with his young protégé and is liking what he has seen this summer.
“I think Ben’s still learning his craft but there’s been some really pleasing progress from the start of pre-season to now,” he said.
“I think if he continues down that path there’s some great opportunities for him.
“He falls into a bracket of players that you think would probably get an opportunity throughout the NAB Cup, and what he then does with that is going to determine where his game time goes from there.
“But he’s had a good pre-season, so he should be feeling pretty optimistic.”
