Gary Buckenara analyses Collingwood’s list after 2016 season
COLLINGWOOD has one major problem with its list and trading Travis Cloke won’t fix it, says recruiting expert GARY BUCKENARA.
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COLLINGWOOD was a big disappointment this year.
I wrote in last year’s column it was finals or bust for the Pies because the club believed the list was a genuine flag contender and there would be no excuses for missing finals in 2016.
As it has turned out the Pies’ list was unable to cope with injuries and the imbalance of playing types created by those injuries. Injuries illustrate the depth quality you have to cover them.
The Pies have recruited far too many similar types — big-bodied inside midfielders — so the list management and recruiting has for some reason been either done on a playing style instruction from coaches to recruit those types, or it has been just taking the best ranked player at their draft picks, which can create an imbalance in recruiting if the best ranked player at every pick you have is a midfielder type.
What has happened, in my opinion, is Collingwood’s list is poorly balanced in player types and now the types of players they are desperate for are the hardest to find — key-position players — which will hurt them unless they can boost their stocks via free agency or during the trade period.
Questions list managers and recruiters should be asking themselves are:
WHAT are our positional needs?
HOW many players have we got capable of playing in various positions?
WHERE are we short and need to invest in to give our list a better balance?
That’s where the Pies have fallen down and because of that, they haven’t been able to cover certain injuries. Instead, they’ve tried to turn these inside midfielders into high half-forwards or rebound defenders and it hasn’t suited the players’ style of football.
If the Pies had a better balance to their list management and recruiting in looking for different types, then there wouldn’t be this bulk of inside mids who do their best work at stoppages rather than outside players with speed who can use the ball extremely well.
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When you go through a list management process you need 12-14 A and B-grade players to compete as well as a good depth of C-grade players. At the Pies, while they have some potentially good young players, their depth isn’t what they think it is.
Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom are A-graders, Ben Reid, Taylor Adams, Adam Treloar, Jamie Elliott, Brodie Grundy and Jordan De Goey are B-graders, as is Travis Varcoe at a stretch. Darcy Moore is developing and is coming on at speed and will be an A-grader soon.
James Aish is still developing but I think he can become a B-grader and there’s big raps on Tom Langdon but I think he’s a C-grader because he’s not a great kick, it’s too slow and gets intercepted.
Treloar and Adams are very good players but they’re similar and I’m not sure that was taken into consideration when the club was targeting them in trades. Were they an actual desperate need given where the side is at?
I’d throw Aish into that equation as well, although he really started to turn his form around at the back end of the year to show he can be a very capable league footballer. And then there’s Levi Greenwood as well.
De Goey also plays his best footy as an inside midfielder and Ben Crocker can play inside but they’ve used him more as a tall utility.
If I was at Collingwood I would only accept a second-round draft pick for Cloke if they are willing to pay most or all of his salary.
The forward line is an area of concern. Elliott was sorely missed obviously but if they’re going into next season with Jesse White as the only tall flanking Moore — who is going to be a star — that’s not going to fill defenders with fear.
You can’t rely on White for a consistent effort week in, week out. He makes far too many mistakes and floats in and out of games.
Mason Cox can help Grundy in the ruck and go forward but he’s still got a lot to learn and you can’t be banking on him to be the game-breaker tall.
On a more positive note, Grundy’s development and improvement has continued and he’s become one of the best ruckmen in the league. Varcoe is a good rebound defender but has been forced forward and I like Brayden Maynard — I think he can turn into a really good rebound defender.
Alex Fasolo is a very dangerous player and he showed why this year with his marking and ground-level skills before being cut down by injury.
Reid is key to Collingwood and he played most of this year but whether he can back it up next year will be a critical question. The Pies need him because the defence also has gaps in it in terms of talls.
Travis Cloke has requested a trade and it looks like the Bulldogs is his likely destination. If they came to me and I was at Collingwood I would only accept their second-round draft pick if they were willing to pay most or all of his salary. If not then the trade would need to be more than that.
If they’re not going to get that sort of a deal then the Pies would be better off keeping him and possibly trying to turn him into a defender if they believe he no longer has much to offer as a forward.
Jarrod Witts is behind Grundy in the ruck and is looking elsewhere by all reports so the Pies could use him to try and bring in a key-position player. Ruckmen are hard to find so that will elevate his price.
Would they be interested in Brent Harvey or Nick Dal Santo? I think they would because both would offer something, particularly Dal Santo across halfback with his good kicking skills.
Daniel Wells would be a good fit because his ball use is elite and he’s got pace but the query is on his body.
Will Hoskin-Elliott has been linked to Collingwood but he’s not an elite ball user. He’s an average to good kick and a bit of a playmaker, he can make things happen and is tough, hard and takes a good mark for his size. He’s a utility but he’s another player similar to what they have and the Pies are probably better off trying to get into deals for a key defender.
Bulldog Lin Jong toured the club’s facilities and he’s a tallish utility who can play midfield and forward and has a good leap, so he can be handy around the ground as a third-man up. But again, he’s not a key-position player.
When you look at Hawthorn, they went out and recruited Josh Gibson, James Frawley, Brian Lake, Ben McEvoy, Jack Gunston and David Hale — all players who became very important players in premiership years.
Collingwood keeps going after midfielders.
If I was at the Pies I’d be taking a gamble on Eagle Mitch Brown, Nathan’s brother, to add that key-position depth despite his injury concerns because he’s a restricted free agent so he wouldn’t cost them anything.
WHAT THEY NEED
The Pies are desperate for key-position players forward and back and the loss of Cloke only exacerbates that. It’s a critical need.
As I’ve mentioned already, Moore is a star but outside him there isn’t much in the way of key-position depth on the list so they’re in a bit of a conundrum in how they improve their list and get it into a position to be regular finals contenders and become a premiership chance.
Players with elite ball use is also a critical need at Collingwood as well as players with outside speed, so that’s running defenders with speed and endurance with good kicking skills and wingers who bring the same attributes. I just don’t think there are enough good kicks on the list.
Collingwood could also use a developing young ruckman if Witts is traded.
WHO’S UNDER THE PUMP?
Players I believe are under the pump are Matthew Goodyear, Tim Broomhead, Brayden Sier, Lachie Keeffe, Josh Thomas and Corey Gault.
Broomhead shows potential but he’s never on the park, whether it’s injury or illness he has missed a lot of footy and he needs to put consecutive games together to show he can be a player otherwise his time might be up. He needs to work on his kicking as well.
Sier was drafted last year in a surprise from the Pies and had an injury interrupted year, but in a season in which the Pies used nearly every player on their list, he didn’t get a look in and wasn’t really close at all.
Then there’s Keeffe and Thomas who will return next season from two-year drug bans. There is a lot of pressure on those two to repay the faith the club has shown in them. They must make an impact next year. Both have senior experience so should be putting together a huge pre-season to show they’re as committed to Collingwood as Collingwood has been committed to them.
WHO SHOULD GO
Dane Swan, Alan Toovey and Brent Macaffer have already retired but I don’t think there’s a place for Gault, he just hasn’t shown enough. He has been given a couple of opportunities at senior level but hasn’t taken them. Goodyear is another one, he’s been on the list for a few years and Broomhead I would move on because you need to make room on your list and the Pies need to refresh. He’s never out there and his kicking is terrible.
CRYSTAL BALL
I wrote last year it was finals or bust and according to the messages coming out of the club that’s the expectation again next year — but then there was also talk of development and being in a development phase during the year. So what is it?
Did the club get it wrong at the start of the season? Or was it just bad luck with injuries but also poor list management and recruiting?
The list to me as it currently sits can compete for finals. I think they’re a side in the fifth-10th bracket and if they can add a bit of quality they should be a top eight side knocking on the door of top four if everything goes right with injuries and form.
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