COLLINGWOOD defender Nathan Brown will be ready for the NAB Cup competition despite shoulder surgery delaying his start to pre-season training.

Brown had an arthroscopy soon after the side's premiership win, in which he replicated his shutdown of St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt from a week earlier.

The 22-year-old partially dislocated his right shoulder in a mid-season VFL match, but did not require surgery at the time.

Even though Brown missed a month of football, he was able to sufficiently strengthen the joint to return to senior action by round 18.

Brown said a positive meeting with his surgeon in the lead-up to Christmas confirmed he was recovering well.

"He said I'm about two-and-a-half weeks ahead of schedule [in my recovery], so he reckons I should be right for practice matches," Brown told afl.com.au.

"We're back on the 10th of January so by then I should be able to do contact stuff and be ready to go.

"The surgery was more just to tighten it up. It was more precautionary, just so it doesn't happen again."

The operation meant Brown stayed in Melbourne while his teammates headed for their pre-season altitude camp in Arizona.

In that time, he was able to maintain his fitness and work on his specific rehabilitation with a club physiotherapist.

"I only started running [early this month] but I did my first fitness running test with the rest of the group the other day and I did alright in sitting around average, so I was pretty happy with that," he said.

Brown's emerging career has been a rollercoaster ride but he said he had learned from his extensive experience.

After a breakout 2008 season, he struggled for form in 2009 and had to fight for regular senior selection early this year with Ben Reid and Simon Prestigiacomo holding down the key defensive posts.

He said he considered himself particularly lucky to have played in the two grand finals, especially given he was injured Prestigiacomo's late replacement for the first of them.

The grand final replay was just Brown's 50th game.

"You've just got to keep learning from everything. Even if you have bad times, whether you get smashed on the field, get injured, get dropped, play well in the twos and don't get put up for selection - you just take it all in and as each year goes on you become a better player," he said.

"I've always had the bigger picture in mind as to where I want to be, which is as a future long-time full-back for Collingwood like a Simon Prestigiacomo, a 14-year player who was consistent throughout his whole career.

"They say finals are worth four games. I reckon those two grand finals are worth 10 each.

"Obviously there was the build-up and then the draw ... prior to the first grand final not being in the team and then getting a late call-up and stuff like that, they're kind of situations not too many players find themselves in."

Brown said playing in the premiership with Reid, who arrived at Collingwood in the same draft, had meant a lot to him.

"We're the same age, we're both young and we're both so keen to improve and give our best and become one of the best defensive pairs in the game," he said.