BEN REID will not be ready to play in round one, but Magpie skipper Scott Pendlebury has denied the star defender has suffered a setback in his return to football.

Collingwood scaled Reid's training back this week, prompting speculation he may have injured himself again.

The Magpies believe decreasing Reid's training load will put him in the best position to be at full fitness early in the season.

Pendlebury said his high-profile teammate, who played four games in 2014 due to a string of soft-tissue problems, was tracking well in his comeback to football.

"If you see Reidy walking off the track mid-training you assume he's done something," Pendlebury said at AFL captains' day on Wednesday.

"But I think Balmey's (Collingwood director of football Neil Balme) said all along his plan is to get a base into him and when he's ready, he's ready.

"Because we've said that he's not going to play round one, everyone is trying to find an injury for him. It's just his plan and it's what the treatment from Germany and our physios have deemed best for him."

Reid visited doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, the doctor of soccer giant Bayern Munich during his time in Germany.

The Magpies learned a lot about how to manage Reid's body, in particular the importance of ongoing treatment to ensure the 25-year-old has the appropriate conditioning when he returns to football.

Reid has played around seven quarters of football in the past fortnight, through a VFL practice game against Geelong on March 14 and a Collingwood VFL intra-club scratch match last Thursday evening.

Pendlebury said, despite the obvious frustrations of the past 12 months, Reid was content with how he was progressing from the calf, quad and hamstring issues that hampered his 2014 season.

"With Reidy, he's in a good space. He's gone to Germany and feels like he's on top of his injury issues," Pendlebury said.

"Now he's just building back a base to play AFL football.

"Whenever the medical staff declare him fit he'll add plenty to the side."

Collingwood opens its season against the Brisbane Lions on April 4, with the Magpies to be without Reid, Brent Macaffer (knee) and Levi Greenwood – who is set to miss up to two months with a hairline fracture in his ankle.