Sam Reid suspects he would be long gone from the AFL had he insisted on playing out the last year of his contract when the club asked him to retire at the end of 2013.

Reid – who originally joined the GIANTS as an uncontracted player ahead of the inaugural 2012 season – battled shoulder and hip injuries in his first two years and struggled to get going.

He was given the opportunity to stay on as a development coach and NEAFL player, and did that for two years before being re-drafted onto the rookie list at the end of 2016.

In the latest episode of Becoming GIANT, presented by Bingo Industries, Reid explains how the move freshened him up mentally and physically, helped him embrace life as a "role player" and made him fall back in love with the game.

He also describes how he accepted the offer knowing it would keep him around the club and under coach Leon Cameron’s eye, with a determination to get back on the list as soon as possible.

“I’m pretty stubborn. And I love to prove people wrong. My initial thought, honestly, was: 'There’s no way I’m doing this, I’m going to come back that fit and that ready to go that you’re going to play me and I’m going to be right and you’re going to be thinking, geez, lucky…” Reid said.

“And that ended up happening – we got halfway through the year and I’m sitting in match committee, I’ve kicked six on the weekend and they’re going, 'wow, we need you this week.'

“That was the stubbornness in me: 'You know what, I’m still here and you can still see me play and I’m going to show you that you made a mistake by doing what you did.”

"If I had (refused to be delisted) - which don't worry, I really, really wanted to do - I probably would have been done and not been in the AFL environment anymore."

Reid is one of a number of GIANTS to have reflected on his journey to the club in the podcast series.

Heath Shaw, Lachie Whitfield and Matt de Boer are among those to have told their stories, with Callan Ward and Lachlan Keeffe set to feature in upcoming episodes.