COLLINGWOOD defender Tyson Goldsack faces yet another challenge in his short career with the 23-year-old trying desperately to regain his health following a bout of glandular fever.

It's no surprise the youngster is known as "sick boy" around the club following a battle with viral meningitis, an infection of the fluid around the spinal cord and brain early last year and now, glandular fever.

The viral meningitis, paired with a few injuries, limited Goldsack to 11 games in season 2010, but he managed to sneak back into the senior side late in the year and was selected for the grand final replay where the 23-year-old became a premiership player.

After the high of winning a flag, Goldsack joined his teammates on the club's annual training camp to Arizona where his fitness reached new levels.

But it didn’t last. A week after retuning from the intense trip, a blood test confirmed Goldsack had glandular fever.

"It wasn't the greatest season [in 2010]," Goldsack told afl.com.au.

 "I was hoping for a better one this year but then I got glandular fever not long ago so I'm just trying to fight back from that.

 "I was sick at the start of [last] year. I'd had a good pre-season and then got viral meningitis so that kind of put me back a bit an then I had a couple of niggling injuries on the way through."

The defender has been on a modified training program for most of the pre-season and is unsure when he will be able to resume full training or matches but the main concern is ensuring the virus does not develop into the debilitating disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome.

"I'm getting there but I still get tired," Goldsack said.

"The sickness isn’t there but there is a chance of a recurrence and they say chronic fatigue can come from that.

"I don't want to have another setback so it's just frustratingly slow to get back into it."

It's a day-by-day assessment for Goldsack, with some training sessions taking him up to two days to recover from.

"If I'm feeling good one day, I'll train fully," he said.

"If I'm not feeling so good then I might only train half a session and then go in and rest and do all the recovery things I need to do to get right for the next session."

It has been a frustrating 14 months for Goldsack, with constant setbacks limiting his time out on the football field and with the great depth in the Collingwood side, the defender feels the pressure to get his body right as soon as possible or risk missing out on being part of a successful side.

It is very frustrating, especially now that the games are being played and you see all the new blokes playing," Goldsack told afl.com.au.

"The more games other people play, the more pressure it puts on me to get back there and try and show them that I can still play.

"You just want to be out there and prove to yourself that you can still play. It's always a worry being off the track for so long,

"Do I still have it? Are my skills alright?

"It's not a good place to be in but hopefully I'm not far off and will start playing soon."

Tyson Goldsack is a $216,900 defender in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.