JEREMY Howe was specifically recruited to play up forward for Collingwood and that is where he will be in 2016, coach Nathan Buckley says.

Howe, 25, requested a trade to the Magpies after playing 100 games for Melbourne between 2011 and 2015.

The high-flyer kicked 80 goals in his career for the Demons but spent a large part of 2015 playing as a rebounding defender under Paul Roos.

Buckley said Magpie fans could expect to see Howe lighting up Collingwood's attack in 2016.

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"He'll (Howe) play centre-forward for us. We've recruited him with that in mind," Buckley said on Friday

"He's come off a hip operation but he's training pretty well. What he shows on the track is his speed, endurance repetition.

"He's understanding our running patterns and where we want him to go in different roles forward of the ball.

"He's shown some good things, but there's still plenty to go."

The Magpies toughed it out in sweltering conditions at the Olympic Park oval on Friday morning for their final training session before the Christmas break.

At the end of the session, the players then made their way over to the Botanical Gardens running track with the temperature above 30 degrees.

"This is a little bit about what pre-season's about. We test our players and we take them to places that they haven't been before and see how they handle it," Buckley said.

"It's about preparing physically, mentally and emotionally and days like this assist in that endeavour."

Defender Ben Reid has been training strongly as he looks to put a horror two years behind him.

Reid has played just nine matches in the past two seasons with a series of soft-tissue problems preventing him from getting out on the field.

He did play the final five matches of the 2015 season and Buckley said the club was "bullish" that the swingman had turned the corner.

"He's going well but we're not counting our chickens," Buckley said.

"He had a really strong off-season. He set himself to carry out a couple of things we put in place at the end of last season that really worked for him.

"All he can do is come out here and train at his capacity and do a full load, which is basically what he's been doing.

"We're hopeful and bullish of being able to get access to him for a full season."