Much of his earlier rugby has been at fullback although in last year's Mitre 10 Cup campaign he had enjoyed consistent time in the Otago midfield and was looking to build on that.
Collins said his goal had been to play in the midfield for the Highlanders this year.
"At the moment I think it suits me a bit better," he said.
"For me, it's around collision detail and organising defence and backing myself on attack, and if there is space having a crack at it.
"Last year was probably the first I have played consistently in that midfield jumper so it was nice putting a whole bunch of games together because I found myself shuffling between a few [positions] so to play one position consistently was quite good," he said.
The 26-28 outcome of Friday's preseason game against the Crusaders had been tough, especially after they did so well at the start.
"In the second half we let ourselves down a wee bit, but that is what pre-season is all about. We got quite a lot out of it, and we know where we can get to and where we can get to if we are off a wee bit," he said.
They had missed some opportunities in the second half and were unable to stop the roll the Crusaders got on.
"We've gone through a few things in the group of how to fix them and deal with them again, and how to get better at it," he said.
While the distractions posed by the implementations of different levels to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic were felt by all sides, all the Highlanders were doing was keeping their day-by-day focus and working towards their second pre-season game against the Hurricanes at the weekend.
If the situation demanded a delayed start to Super Rugby Aotearoa that would be disappointing but it was something all teams had to cope with. After all their pre-season work everyone was looking keen to starting, he said.
Adapting was something the players were more familiar with as a result of their experience last year so it was less difficult.