Collingwood's backline coach Justin Longmuir has praised Darcy Moore as a star defender in the making with the talented key position player swapping ends this year.
The 22-year-old has been touted as the future of the Magpies' forward line, kicking 58 goals in his first 47 games and showing flashes of brilliance.
But Moore has been training with Longmuir's backline group over summer, as All-Australian defender Ben Reid gets set to move up forward in his place.
"I do see him (Moore) as a natural defender," Longmuir said.
"He's not going to be the best defender in the comp straight away, but his willingness to learn and get better has impressed me. As the year goes on, he'll improve a lot."
The son of club great Peter has had a testing pre-season, completing about 75 per cent of training as he recovers from an achilles issue.
Moore will sit out Collingwood's opening pre-season match in Canberra on Thursday night against GWS, but Longmuir expects he will get game time at some level before the Magpies' round-one clash with Hawthorn.
While Moore and fellow key players Adam Treloar, Jeremy Howe, Jamie Elliott and Alex Fasolo will miss the Giants match, star skipper Scott Pendlebury is back.
A finger injury ruled the five-time Copeland Trophy winner out of the Magpies' final six games of last season.
Longmuir said there was no reason why the 30-year-old ace midfielder couldn't get back this year to his peak.
"We expect him to be close to his best, he's trained well during the pre-season and he's fully fit, so we expect him to play good minutes," Longmuir said.
"I've only seen him up close in person for the last four or five months, but he's elite in everything he does."
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