A hamstring injury to Bock paved the way for Davis to make his AFL debut against Carlton in round four last season.
The former first-round draft pick retained his spot for the next seven games, in spite of the star centre half-back's return and only missed the club's clash with Hawthorn in round 12 through injury.
He was rushed back into the team in round 13 and established himself at centre half-back in the absence of Bock, who had again fallen victim to the injury curse, this time with an abductor strain.
Davis earned a NAB Rising Star nomination for his job on Geelong premiership hero Cam Mooney in round 16, but was controversially dropped the following week to make way for Bock and wasn't recalled until the best and fairest winner informed the club of his plans to join the Suns and was asked to clear out his locker.
The third-year defender said Bock's defection had potentially saved him from being on the fringe of selection for another season.
"It was disappointing to lose Nathan because he's a very talented footballer and he's one of the best centre half-backs in the comp, but he saw a different opportunity and that's fine," Davis said from Adelaide's Telstra AFL Community Camp in Mount Gambier.
"He's a good bloke and I'll miss him in that respect, but hopefully him leaving has left open a spot for me in the backline.
"We played a few games together last year, but a couple of times it came down to [a choice of] one or the other… [the coaches] couldn't play both [of us]."
At just 20 years of age, Davis will be one of the youngest centre half-backs in the competition this season.
The key-defensive posts are often reserved for a team's more experienced players, but Davis said he felt ready to do battle with the game's best forwards on a full-time basis.
"I felt as though I had a pretty good run and got a lot of confidence out of what I could do last year…but centre half-back is a tough position," Davis said.
"You've got to play on a lot of good footballers and they can easily kick a lot of goals on you, but for me it's about trying to improve.
"Hopefully, I can improve on last year and keep on doing what I want to do. It'll be a challenge, but one I'm looking forward to."
Davis has added 4kg of muscle to his frame over the summer to help him combat the bigger-bodied forwards and has also worked on the attacking side of his game.
Bock was a key playmaker in Adelaide's defence and Davis said it was important he too learned how to transform his negating skills into scoring opportunities for the team.
"First and foremost I try and beat my opponent and I want to maintain that defensive side of my game, but in the future it would be good to create a bit more run, get a bit more of the ball and help out our other runners in defence."
Phil Davis is a $211,000 defender in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
