Collingwood sets platform for next premiership with stunning trade month

HEATH Shaw and Dale Thomas are gone, but Collingwood is building the platform for its next premiership with a series of trade coups.

Alan Didak

COLLINGWOOD had a lamentably short September.

In time, the six weeks that followed that elimination final loss to Port Adelaide might be seen not only as a new start, but also the seeds of a very exciting future.

We all knew that Nathan Buckley wanted to make his own sizeable stamp on the footy club.

Ironically, the manner in which the Magpies exited the finals series this year - with barely a whimper - gave him even greater currency to get the job done without any fear or any favour.

DEPARTMENT OF TRADES

To the surprise of some in the football world, Collingwood resolved to move on those who didn't fit the Buckley mould or who had outlived their usefulness - or those who didn’t fit that word so often used in footy clubs now, culture.

They also committed to using the trade/draft period as a platform for the now and for the future.

And deep into time-on of this marathon free agency/trade period, the Pies are serious winners in what they have been able to achieve.

Sure, it's too early to make firm predictions.

Don't forget their off-season trades last year yielded a player who isn't there now (Jordan Russell) and two who have had issue injuries (Quinten Lynch and Clinton Young).

But football insiders will tell you that the work of the past month and a bit has the Pies again well placed in the short-term and exceedingly well placed in the long-term.

It's only 36 months since Collingwood won the 2010 premiership, but the club has either lost or replaced just under half of the team which helped to deliver the club's 15th flag.

Gone are Alan Didak (moved on), Ben Johnson (retired), Darren Jolly (moved on), Chris Dawes (traded), Leigh Brown (retired), Leon Davis (retired), Sharrod Wellingham (traded).

Alan Didak

As we know, Dale Thomas has accepted a lucrative multi-million dollar offer from Carlton that Collingwood was never going to match, as it feared his ankle might not be worth the risk in terms of the price-tag required to keep him. Time will tell on that one.

And now comes the confirmation that Heath Shaw - a part of Magpie royalty in terms of his lineage - has been traded to Greater Western Sydney for talented young midfielder Taylor Adams.

Some of those have been tough calls, but the club has maintained tough calls are required in the chase for its next premiership.

Critically, the Magpies have not only been able to secure Adams - a 20-year-old it has long regarded - as well as Sydney forward-ruckman Jesse White, they have manoeuvred their way up the draft batting order.

In a brilliant three-way deal, the Pies netted draft pick 6 pick from West Coast in exchange for No.11 and also secured White from the Swans. They sent No.31 to the Eagles while Sydney received West Coast’s pick 44 which sent White to Collingwood. The Pies have also given up pick 49.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Shaw-@tayadams30 trade a big win for Pies. Adams has 200 games in him, huge leadership potential, close connection with Bucks. Great get.

— Jay Clark (@ClarkyHeraldSun) October 23, 2013

What it means is that despite finishing in the top eight for the past eight seasons, Collingwood will have two picks in the top 10 of the 2013 national draft - as well as Adams, who was a No.13 pick in 2011.

And on top of three top-20 picks from last year's crop - Grundy, Ben Kennedy and Tim Broomhead.

Admittedly, Thomas - a one-time No.2 pick in 2005 - departs the club.

Given his track record in the past - and his work in this trade period - you would suspect that Magpies national recruiting Derek Hine will nail those draft selections at pick 6 and 10.

If it looks as though the Magpies are going to be very competitive in the long-term, the question is: what about the short to medium term? It doesn’t look as bad as many people think.

Steele Sidebottom

Champion Data ranks seven Magpies as either elite or above average - Scott Pendlebury (who is expected to be skipper next year), Dane Swan, Dayne Beams, Luke Ball, Ben Reid, Travis Cloke and Steele Sidebottom.

But where the improvement can still come is that Champion rates many of the club's under-24s as potential above average players at some stage of their careers - Grundy, Jamie Elliott, Marley Williams, Alex Fasolo, Paul Seedsman, Jarryd Blair, Josh Thomas, Lachlan Keefe and Jarrod Witts.

Add Adams to that mix now. He is a potential gun midfielder who showed glimpses at GWS, but will likely thrive in the development-rich Westpac Centre.

White is 25 and is a handy player, but no star, yet he might be the sort of player Collingwood needs as a forward-ruck back-up for Grundy.

The Magpies also haven't given up on luring disgruntled Lion Patrick Karnezis, though they are facing a challenge from North Melbourne.

Collingwood sits 13th in terms of the current AFL ladder on age, yet ranks fifth on the experience table.

That's an unusual discrepancy.

But what it tells you is that Buckley isn't frightened to play the kids and to back them in if they do the right thing. We saw it in 2013, with the club blooding many listed and rookie players, and we can expect to see more of the same next year.

All these changes probably won't vault the Magpies to the top of the ladder next year, but neither will they lose ground. They will aim for – and should – an eighth successive finals series in 2014.

But there is no doubt that the club - and Buckley - have positioned themselves to be extremely competitive well into the future.

The work of the past month - and the players they will likely select next month - should see to that.

Follow Glenn McFarlane on Twitter: @MaccaHeraldSun