Sam Reid is like most AFL players. He’s not a big fan of meetings. He’d much rather be training or playing football than talking football.

So, heading into his sixth AFL season with the Sydney Swans at 23, he’s facing a bit of a dilemma. Perhaps twice as many team meetings as most of his mates. And all because of his versatility.

Reid, at 195cm and 95kg, is the ultimate swingman, capable of playing a role at either end of the ground with genuine effectiveness. And therein lies his issue.

He has split his time over the pre-season between the defenders and the forwards.

It’s been OK through the summer because off-season meetings are generally all-in affairs, but when they start line meetings he’s likely to get a tap on the shoulder not just from forward line coach Henry Playfair but backline coach John Blakey too.

“I might have to go to both ... that wouldn’t be too good,” he said, eagerly awaiting a mixed role this year.

This, of course, is a light-hearted reflection on one aspect of the life of an AFL footballer.

But as the Swans look to rebound from the disappointments of their 2014 grand final loss to Hawthorn, it is a very serious matter. Because the versatile Reid, fit and well again following off-season knee surgery, is shaping as a real weapon.

His ability to play alongside Lance Franklin, Kurt Tippett and Adam Goodes in a star-studded forward line is well-documented, but if he can go back and help out Ted Richards and Heath Grundy as an extra tall defender it’ll be huge peace of mind for coach John Longmire.

Reid, describing himself as “a pretty chilled bloke”, is genuinely not concerned where he plays.

“Honestly, there isn’t one position I want to play,” he said.

“I’m happy to play either end depending on what we need against a specific opponent. I’m happy pinch-hitting in the ruck, too, as long as I can play a valuable role for the team.

“I haven’t played a lot down back recently … just floated back at times to play a spare man role but it’s something I want to explore this year because it can add a bit of handy versatility and value.”

Reid, a 76-game AFL veteran, looks back on season 2014 with mixed feelings. He was frustrated by a knee problem which restricted his ability to train regularly at full intensity, pleased by the team’s effort to qualify for the grand final, and “shattered” by their performance in the big one.

“Personally, I was below where I wanted to be. I played some good games but they were few and far between and overall I was inconsistent. I found I was waiting behind a bit and not attacking games. And not being able to train properly really hurt me,” he said.

While Reid’s career win/loss record now stands at an imposing 53-21, with two draws, including an astonishing 40-1-11 over the last three years, the 63-point loss to the Hawks in the grand final is still a sore point.

”You’ll never get over it and will always be filthy but you can’t sit on it for too long. It probably stuck with me for a couple of weeks but you’ve got to move on. The only way to move forward is to work really hard and make sure that sort of thing never happens again.

“We haven’t dwelled on it over the pre-season but I know everyone is pretty fired up and pretty keen for the games to get underway, and we’ve got a lot of very fit guys.”

Reid in action against Geelong in 2014.

In a physical sense, Reid moved on quicker than most. On the Thursday after the grand final, he had surgery to repair a damaged meniscus in his knee, and soon afterwards headed to the United States for a month.

He went with teammate Craig Bird, who had undergone similar surgery, older brother and Collingwood rival Ben, and three mates from back home. It was a pretty special time as they visited Los Angles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Miami and New York.

Favourite memory? “It was a bit of a boys’ trip so it was hard to go past Vegas,” he said.

But there were plenty of other highlights. Like the NBA season-opener between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden.

“It wasn’t cheap and the Knicks lost by 30 so it was a bit flat, but it was a great experience,” he said.

They also saw the New York Jets play the Buffalo Bills in the NFL – the Jets lost by 30 – and a thrilling NHL game between New York and Minnesota at The Garden in which New York scored a comeback 5-4 win. The atmosphere was incredible, he said.

It was a lifetime first for the popular young tall, whose only previous overseas holiday was as a teenager to Cancun in Mexico two years ago. And he brought home with him some thoughts that might interest the Swans marketing department.

“The thing that really struck me about the NFL was the crowd involvement. It was fantastic. The football goes for a long time – like four hours – but you never felt like it was dragging on because there was always something happening on the big screen or somewhere else to keep the fans occupied.

“You never felt like you were waiting for the game to start. In fact it was more often the players were waiting for the other stuff to finish so they could get on with the game.

“American football is a lot more stop-start than AFL but more spectator involvement is maybe something the AFL can look at because you’ve always got to try to do things better.”

After a month away, Reid was straight back into rehabilitation mode well before the start of official training. And after a closely monitored program he is ready to go for the pre-season NAB Challenge matches.

“After last year I’m just really looking forward to training properly each week,” he said, having been so busy last year trying to keep on top of his knee issues that not once did he get down to the family home just outside Bright, near Wangaratta, in north-eastern Victoria.

It was just as well, then, that his mother Kay is a travel agent because she and Sam’s father Bruce, a former Carlton and Footscray player, were able to get up to Sydney about every second week to watch him play.

But his parents’ visits to Sydney weren’t all about football. There was also the ever-escalating “family” of Reid and partner Kim at the Coogee home they moved into last April.

Or their “zoo” as teammates are prone to call it.

In addition to Frankie, the two-year-old white French Bulldog who was the subject of a special “interview” on sydneyswans.com.au last year, there is now a second dog. Alfie is a nine-month old fawn French Bulldog with a black face.

Reid with his dog Frankie.

The two dogs, who enjoy an occasional outing to the pet-friendly small beach at Botany Bay, share their home with Ashy and Nala, described by Reid as “two of the biggest cats you’ve ever seen”.

While Reid’s immediate focus heading into the season proper is on the Round 1 clash with Essendon at ANZ Stadium on Easter Saturday, he’s also got a mental circle drawn around the Round 20 clash with Collingwood at the SCG on August 4.

Hopefully, it’ll be his fourth meeting with brother Ben, who is 20 months older and after a trip to Germany to help eradicate a nightmare four-game 2014 season with repeat leg injuries is looking forward to his 100th AFL game in Round 1.

What’s the head-to-head record between the two? Sam wasn’t sure. But he was quick to recall that Sydney had beaten Collingwood (by 26 points) in the 2012 preliminary final at ANZ Stadium. He knew that much.

Overall, it’s 2-1 to younger brother after Ben took their first meeting in 2011 by six points at ANZ Stadium, and Sam won the last time they met by 47 points at the MCG in 2013.

With both now seemingly set for alternating roles forward and back there’s every chance they will find themselves directly opposed regularly in the years ahead.