COLLINGWOOD is pleased with Ben Reid's progress and remains confident the key big man will be available for round one.
A spate of soft tissue injuries ruined Reid's 2014 season and after another setback during pre-season training, he was sent to Germany to find the source of his continual calf and quad problems.
He has returned a new man, not skipping a beat since the Christmas break.
The German specialist Reid saw believed all of his soft tissue problems came from his back, which he is working hard on rectifying.
While not wanting to commit to a timeline, Collingwood football manager Neil Balme told the Herald Sun they were pleased with his progress.
"He is doing a reasonable amount of work," Balme said.
"He looks pretty good. I don’t think we have got to the stage of even deciding about NAB Cup.
"It's a matter of how he trains and when he’s ready to go but we are pretty confident he will be fine (by round one). We are quite pleased."
Alan Toovey (calf) and Jesse White (ankle) are also back in the main training group.
