INJURED Collingwood defender Nathan Brown is determined to turn his season-ending knee injury into a positive by spending this year learning the ropes of coaching.

The 22-year-old had his knee reconstructed last week after tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament earlier this month in an innocuous training incident. 

After his initial disappointment at not being part of the Magpies' premiership defence, he decided to take on a role with the club's VFL side and help assistant coach Nathan Buckley with opposition analysis for the seniors.

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

"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 use it as a year to expand my knowledge of the game.

"All players who are injured would love to do that; they find that being away from the club just kills you."

Brown said footballers who went on to coach often pointed out the things they learned as coaches would have been a great advantage to them as players.

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

Brown considered the option of the revolutionary LARS technique that has a dramatically shorter recovery period than the traditional knee reconstruction.

He was offered a potential comeback in round six with the LARS procedure, but after speaking to three different surgeons, decided to take the longer-term option.

"When I initially did it, you've got to think about that," he said.

"I'm 22 years old and hopefully I have eight to 10 years ahead of me so after having all those thoughts going through my head, it was a no-brainer."

Brown's twin brother, West Coast defender Mitch Brown, suffered the same injury - to the same knee - in 2008 in freakily similar circumstances.

Brown said his brother had been his biggest supporter since the incident and had told him to take things slowly.

"He's called me flat out and sometimes I've had to tell him, 'Mate, leave me alone'," he said.

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

"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.

"I know he played [on Sunday night] with tape on his hand with my number on it.

"I told him after the game, 'That was a bit corny', but he said, 'No, it reminds me my best mate's has had what 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'."