AFL 2023: Graham Wright is the hidden mastermind behind Collingwood resurgence
Graham Wright took plenty from his time at the Hawks, and arrived at the Pies with it all to do in 2021. Jay Clark looks into how the list guru turned the Pies into flag favourites so quickly.
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Graham Wright arrived at Collingwood on a budget.
The books were a mess and the club was in something of a tailspin when the Magpies finally convinced the legendary recruiter and footy boss to come across from Hawthorn.
At Waverley, Wright helped pull off moves for Jack Gunston, David Hale, Brian Lake, Josh Gibson and James Frawley as part of the Hawks’ golden era, helping rewrite the AFL’s recruiting manual alongside the Sydney Swans with mature-age recruits.
But after riding shotgun alongside Hawthorn mastermind Alastair Clarkson for 14 years in various roles, friends say Wright was a little worn out by the Hawks environment.
He was ready for a fresh footy challenge when he joined Collingwood in February 2021, days after the Herald Sun revealed details of the club’s ‘Do Better’ report.
The Magpies had hit a list management iceberg, and needed help.
But in less than two years of navigating one of the most blown-up salary caps in the league at Collingwood, one of the game’s most influential footy figures has seemingly done it again.
Wright has helped take Collingwood from second bottom in 2021 to outright flag favourite in 2023 using pages from his old Hawthorn recruiting manual.
He also hand-picked the coach, the empathetic and connected Craig McRae, convinced he was exactly the right man and style of coach to lead the biggest club in the game.
He was an expert communicator, McRae, a development specialist and people person, who beat Adam Kingsley, Jaymie Graham and Michael Voss for the gig.
But the list moves not only had a familiar touch of genius from Wright, they were done on the cheap.
Under Wright, 55, the Magpies have fixed the salary cap nightmare, added to the list, and rocketed up the ladder.
Over the past two years, Collingwood has brought in Patrick Lipinski (Western Bulldogs), Nathan Kreuger (Geelong), Billy Frampton (Adelaide), Bobby Hill (GWS Giants), Daniel McStay (Brisbane), and Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn), as well as father-son superstar Nick Daicos and fellow first-round pick Ed Allen.
And the most they have given up for any of those mature-age players is a future second-rounder for Hill.
Clearly, the black and white list rejuvenation has some brown and gold in it.
“There is a bit of Hawthorn in what they have done over the past two years, but there is a difference in the sense they have not traded out early picks to do it,” a club official said.
“And they have been really restricted in how much they can pay.
“That is the most impressive part. The economy of it all.
“But Wrighty is a man who knows what he is doing.
“He is a good footy boss, no doubt, but he is an outstanding recruiter. That is his greatest strength.
“He knows talent.
“But he won’t like this story.”
It has been often said Collingwood has housed some of the biggest names, and biggest egos in the game, over the journey. And at times, there have been fiery clashes. Noses out of joint.
Headlines have been a constant at Collingwood.
But Wright operates largely in stealth. In the backrooms. He’s the bloke walking two steps behind everyone else in all the photos. Interviews are typically short. And rare.
It has been said journalists are more likely to win Powerball than get him for a few minutes on the phone about a player contract or injury.
He might be footy’s most calm and composed individual in a club environment known for its intensity and spotlight.
“He’s a good fella,” said forward Beau McCreery.
“You don’t get too much of a laugh or smile out of him. You always have a crack at it, though.
“So he is a pretty serious fella, but I think he has got to be.”
And when the temperature rises, Wright’s level-headedness shines.
“He is always very level, very cool in any crisis,” said the former colleague.
The hard-nosed Tasmanian product, who finished second in the 1990 Brownlow Medal amid an excellent 201-game career at Collingwood, operates with a simple nod most of the time, in the public arena.
But the humble ways are another considerable strength, said a colleague.
He is universally respected across the industry, which is in part why Collingwood tried to poach him from Hawthorn for the best part of a decade.
Nathan Buckley, in particular, pushed hard for him.
“He has served Hawthorn and Collingwood wonderfully well, but what people might not realise is that clubs love to deal with him, because he doesn’t stuff around,” a footy figure said on the condition of anonymity.
“He is fair, and you look back through all the deals, he’s got them done.
“So clubs and the managers like to work with him.”
And it hasn’t always been easy, either.
The club also re-signed Jordan De Goey in the face of a more lucrative offer from St Kilda, kept captain and star key defender Darcy Moore and warded off league-wide interest for Scott Pendlebury as part of a player-coach arrangement.
Again, when the speculation around De Goey hit fever pitch, and St Kilda had the game breaking midfielder on the hook, it is said that Wright never got jumpy.
He is fair and considered.
Buckley was one of the greatest figures in the club’s history, and Wright made sure he received the respectful departure he deserved when his time came to depart.
But the key to Collingwood’s list reworking over the past 24 months was the bold call to trade out Brodie Grundy against the ruckman’s wishes, following Adam Treloar and Jaidyn Stephenson out the door.
Those exits prompted stinging criticism of Collingwood at the time. Could the players trust the Magpies? What is a contract worth at the club? What do the departures do to the culture?
It is unclear if Treloar has since spoken to Buckley. Relationships broke.
Moore and Grundy are best mates.
But Wright was not a believer in paying ruckmen huge salaries, and publicly said the club wanted to go in “a different direction”.
While the Pies are still chipping in about $200,000 of Grundy’s salary at Melbourne, that call allowed the club to secure McStay and, in part, Hill.
The two forwards delivered in different ways in the qualifying final win over Melbourne, with the speedster and mobile marking forward combining for five goals.
What Wright wanted to do was pay less in the ruck for more competitiveness, mobility, tackle pressure, speed and class in the forward line.
The Magpies had quality in the engine room, but the club needed to bolster its scoring power, having notched 100 points only once in 2020-21.
It fit in with McRae’s game plan to take risks, move quickly, go forward and direct where possible, and play with a certain freedom and flair. Less mucking around.
But to pull it all together you need players who can compete in the front half, and McStay and Brody Mihocek are workhorses, McCreery is a sledgehammer, Hill is hard to catch and sharp like a razor, and Frampton helped replace departed veteran Jordan Roughead down back.
Frampton was a crucial, no-frills addition, again, for not much; a third-round pick.
Lipinski added depth and more wheels in the midfield, Mitchell addressed a considerable clearance weakness and Nick and Josh Daicos are signed for life, already. They’re the future.
The one they wanted to keep, Ollie Henry, returned home to Geelong to be closer to family. He snagged 41 goals this year in a decent third AFL season.
But even that move nearly fell over on the second-last day of the trade period when Cats officials Andrew Mackie and Simon Lloyd went to the Henry family household to say the deal may yet not go through as Collingwood wanted to keep him.
Wright led the bold call to trade-out Grundy, despite ironically showing some minor interest in him (on a lot less money) in his Hawthorn days.
But that thought bubble never went far.
In fact, in 2016 and 2018 when Hawthorn faced key crossroads on its list build, and whether to top-up to push for another flag, or zag for more youth, Wright was the one calling for kids.
It has been said those meetings in the Hawthorn inner sanctum at the end of the premiership era were as robust as they come.
And Wright did provide a contrary opinion to Clarkson’s premiership top-up plan.
But in the end they opted for Jaeger O’Meara, Tom Mitchell and Chad Wingard, as part of another flag trade assault which was ultimately unsuccessful. To be clear, Wright signed off on the O’Meara, Mitchell and Wingard trades, too, but they were vigorous debates.
Two weeks ago when some old Hawthorn friends caught up, Wright was there. So the ties remain strong from one of the most successful periods in recent history.
But halfway through the pandemic, which stressed every football department in the game, Wright moved to Collingwood, where the list Tetris once again began quickly.
And in a fortnight, there could be another trophy to add to his cabinet.
Not that you will hear him spruik about it.
“We talk a lot about the great coaches in the game, but success has followed Wrighty,” a friend said.
“And he probably doesn’t get enough credit for the work that he’s done.
“But that is how he likes it.”
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