Injured Collingwood defender Nathan Brown's No.16 will be running around this AFL season, even if he won't.

Brown was at Collingwood headquarters on Monday sans crutches or a brace despite undergoing a knee reconstruction just six days ago.

The 22-year-old will miss the entire season but his twin brother Mitch, who plays for West Coast, will ensure he will have a presence on the playing field.

"I know he played (on Sunday night) with tape on his hand with my number on it," said Brown, who hurt the knee during training.

"I told him after the game, 'That was a bit corny', but he said, 'No, it reminds me ... my best mate's had something he loves taken away from him and I get a chance to do it so I'm not going to hold back and let that go'.

"Anyone that knows us, we're best mates and if one of us takes a hit, the other takes a hit."

Mitch suffered the same injury, also to his left knee, in 2008 in similarly innocuous circumstances during a pre-season game.

"He has been pretty emotional about it but when he did his knee, I got a lot out of it as a player and it gave me so much drive to play well."

Brown, who was one of the Magpies' best in shutting down St Kilda skipper Nick Riewoldt during their grand final victory, planned to be positive about his year on the sidelines.

He will take on a defensive coaching role with the club's VFL side and help assistant coach Nathan Buckley with opposition analysis for the seniors.

"Initially as you'd expect I took it pretty hard because as a professional athlete you want to be out on the field," Brown said.

"I'm going to use this year and turn it into a massive positive, because that's all I can do.

"I can't dwell on it, it's happened now, I've done my knee and I'm out for the year.

"I'm going to get something out of it and really use it as a year to expand my knowledge on the game.

"I'm going to come back a more experienced and stronger player, even though I haven't been playing games."

Brown underwent traditional knee surgery after he considered LARS surgery, involving an artificial graft, which could have had him back playing mid-season.

However with the longer-term implications of the new surgery uncertain, Brown said it was a "no-brainer".

"With the Pies obviously a good chance of another premiership this year it went through my head but I'm 22 and have hopefully got another eight to 10 years ahead of me."

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