AFL trade news: Collingwood football boss opens up on the Magpies’ plans for the off-season
Collingwood eased its financial issues last year but still faces some salary cap headaches. How will they impact the club’s plans for the upcoming trade period?
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Collingwood football boss Graham Wright has started trade negotiations with Geelong about Nathan Kreuger but admits the Pies still have some salary cap “difficulties”.
The Magpies are set to bring in two-gamer Kreuger and fringe Western Bulldog Patrick Lipinski, who has requested a trade to the club as he seeks greater senior opportunities.
“I’m always a bit hesitant to talk about players who aren’t at your club, but it’s been pretty widely reported that we’d like (Kreuger) to come and they would like to come,” Wright told AFL Trade Radio.
“We feel Nathan is more a forward than a defender. I know he played as a defender this year, but he’s 196cm, he’s got speed, he’s someone who competes really well and for us it was an area of need.
“From an age demographic perspective, he’s a 22-year-old, so we feel he can come in and potentially play a role there and come in and earn a spot.”
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Wright said Collingwood would be able to offer Lipinski a regular spot and that he added depth to various positions, including at half-forward and half-back, on the wing and on-ball.
He left the door ajar for both Mason Cox and Max Lynch to return next season – but hinted regular games might be tough for Cox – while Brayden Sier must wait until the trade period ends to learn his fate.
The Magpies’ other out-of-contract footballers are Isaac Chugg, John Noble, Scott Pendlebury, Jay Rantall and Josh Thomas.
There is also the spectre of Darcy Moore, Jordan De Goey and Brayden Maynard being free agents next year, with all clubs carrying the extra burden of salary cap deferrals from the Covid-19 crisis.
The decision to trade Adam Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson, Tom Phillips and Atu Bosenavulagi last year eased the Pies’ financial woes, but Wright said there was still more to do.
“When you’re 17th on the ladder, you don’t want to be having salary cap issues, but that’s certainly something I’ve come into,” he said.
“The club was in a position for a number of years there where they had their foot on the till, for want of a better word, trying to win flags.
“It’s certainly feasible that you try and keep that group together and do whatever you can to bring players in to help you get across the line, but that has potential repercussions down the track – and we’re dealing with that a little bit now.”
Wright said making the situation more problematic is they were still waiting to hear from the AFL on the exact salary cap figure for next year and beyond.
“We still don’t know what the number is for 2022 today, which is really hard to believe,” he said.
“Like us and most clubs, you’re planning two, three, four years in advance and we don’t have any idea what the number is going to be for 2022 at this stage.
“We’ve still got some difficulties there, or things we have to work through. We’ll be in a lot better position this year than we were last year … but we’re still not completely out of the woods.”
CLUBS CIRCLING DOGS BIG MAN DESPITE NEW OFFER
Jay Clark
Western Bulldogs’ back-up ruckman Jordon Sweet faces an uncertain future after being overlooked for a senior spot late in the season.
The 23-year-old has attracted some rival interest and could be tempted into a move elsewhere for more senior opportunities after falling out of the senior team.
Sweet played five games this season and showed promising signs averaging 20 hit-outs a game but is yet to agree to a contract extension at the kennel.
News Corp understands the Dogs want to keep Sweet and have offered him a new deal to keep him in red, white and blue for 2022
The 205cm Dog’s last game was in Round 11 against premiers Melbourne when Sweet had only three possessions in his battle with superstar big man Max Gawn.
Bulldogs’ coach Luke Beveridge opted for defender Lewis Young and even skipper Marcus Bontempelli in the ruck late in the season when Sweet was available.
While multiple clubs have inquired about Sweet’s situation, talks could drag on as the club weighs up whether to bolster its ruck stocks for next season.
The ruck remains the biggest headache for the club which brought back veteran big man Stefan Martin for the preliminary and grand finals despite missing almost three months with a groin injury.
Beveridge has bemoaned the team’s inability to regularly win hit-outs to advantage in the engine room, acknowledging it has been a problem for several seasons.
The Dogs forced hard nut Josh Dunkley into the ruck at times in 2020 which, in part, prompted his unsuccessful trade request to Essendon last year.
The Dogs also have Tim English but have shifted him into the forward line at times in a sign the club’s faith in his ability to hold down the ruck has wavered due to his slight frame.
English is out of contract next season and could be targeted by West Coast after English’s partner, Rudi Ellis, signed with West Coast Fever in the Suncorp Super Netball League
The Eagles lost Nathan Vardy as a back-up ruckman and are looking at their options to find a long-term replacement for 31-year-old Nic Naitanui.
The Dogs are set to lose midfielder Pat Lipinski to Collingwood and are confident of extending Dunkley’s agreement in the face of strong interest from the Bombers last year.
Meanwhile, Geelong defender Lachie Henderson has made the decision to retire.
The former Brisbane and Carlton swingman has shone in defence for the Cats in recent seasons, reinvigorating a career which appeared over when he was delisted briefly in 2019.
Henderson has played 206 AFL games and kicked 117 goals over 14 seasons.
Category B rookie Stefan Okunbor has also returned to Ireland following three years with the club.
Cats’ football manager Simon thanked both players for their services.
“Lachie has made a significant contribution since joining the club in 2016,” Lloyd said.
“He was a strong clubman and always focused on improving his teammates. Lachie could always be depended on and helped the club to the finals in each of his seasons with us.
“Stefan showed great desire and commitment to become a better player. He was limited by injury and the lack of games through the shutdown. He is now back in Ireland and we hope he can enjoy a successful Gaelic football career.
Can the Saints improve enough to contend in 2022?
Only Western Bulldogs loyalists, the most miserly rival fans, and a select few AFL coaches, would have begrudged the smack-down Melbourne handed to the Western Bulldogs on the weekend.
When you wait 57 years for an elusive premiership, the bandwagon is full of interlopers and Johnny-Come-Latelys.
Yet, a penny for the thoughts of Sam Mitchell and Brett Ratten as their heads touched the pillow on Saturday night?
As Melbourne stampeded to that history-making premiership, it was apparent they aren’t anywhere close to done yet.
For Ratten, who urged his players to think “Why not us?” as they parted for their holidays, is that sentiment really true?
Without adding more key pieces this trade period, is St Kilda talented enough to win the premiership next year as their president Andrew Bassat suggested in his mid-year open letter to fans?
Ratten will believe improvement can come from within, given Jade Gresham played three games, Hunter Clark 13, Zak Jones 13, Jack Billings and Rowan Marshall battled significant foot and plantar fascia issues, Paddy Ryder played only a dozen games, and Max King has played just 38 career games.
St Kilda plans to go to the draft instead of adding ruck depth with players like Rory Lobb or Peter Ladhams.
But would Melbourne’s dominance make Ratten more eager to see whether rivals might be keen on players like Josh Battle to create some cap space and picks to fast-track the club’s 2022 ambitions with a trade acquisition?
At Hawthorn, the Herald Sun reported on Saturday Tom Mitchell has told his management he wants to stay, with no suitors for Jaeger O’Meara, Jack Gunston or Chad Wingard.
But the Hawks have only two players they have drafted in the top 25 on their list in Will Day and Denver Grainger-Barras.
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On Saturday night, Melbourne won a flag with players they drafted at pick 2 (Christian Petracca), 3 (Angus Brayshaw and Luke Jackson), 4 (Clayton Oliver), 9 (Christian Salem), 12, (Kysaiah Pickett), 21 (Jake Bowey) 26 (Jack Viney), 27 (Tom Sparrow), 29 (Charlie Spargo) 31 (Bailey Fritsch), 32 (Trent Rivers) and 33 (James Jordon).
Add in pick 37 (Harrison Petty) and 40 (Alex Neal Bullen) – plus Sam Weideman (pick 9), who couldn’t even get a game – and you realise how far behind the Hawks are on pure talent.
Given last year’s AFL pay cuts, no one can afford one of the Hawks’ senior stars, but the one thing the Hawks have is cap space.
Would they be prepared to pay some of the salary of Gunston or O’Meara at a rival club if it handed them another top-20 pick along with their current hand of 5, 21 and 24?
If Richmond truly wanted to chase another flag in this window, would the Hawks pay $250,000 of O’Meara’s $750,000 estimated salary for the next two years if the Tigers gave up pick 15, which will blow out to 17 on draft night?
For the Hawks, the perfect play would be Jon Ceglar to the Bulldogs.
He is 30, they want to play Ned Reeves (and have Ben McEvoy as skipper), Ceglar’s last five weeks were exceptional in the ruck, and it would help the club’s draft hand.
In an overall solid season, Ceglar averaged 18 possessions, 11 contested possessions and 5.2 clearances, and would perfectly suit the Dogs needs given Tim English is happy to play forward-ruck.
Melbourne won the flag by nailing both its drafts and trades (Jake Lever, Steven May, Ed Langdon) and, while clubs cannot simply react to 45 minutes of football, the Demons’ five-year flag window must instruct the decisions of the 17 teams in their wake.
THE TOP 10 PLAYERS WHO WILL MAKE AN INSTANT IMPACT AT NEW CLUBS
1. Adam Cerra (Fremantle to Carlton)
One of Michael Voss’s first tasks as coach should be to go back and watch every one of the five-goal streaks the Blues gave up under David Teague’s tenure.
How often was the second-tier midfield in?
Which players turned up their toes when hard defensive run was required?
Cerra is a blue-chip midfielder. He’s not a top-20 midfielder in the competition, but he is 21, his kicking to leading targets is sublime and he adds critical midfield depth alongside Sam Walsh, Patrick Cripps, Matt Kennedy, Will Setterfield, Paddy Dow and co.
Fremantle’s 2021 best-and-fairest award is this weekend – Cerra is happy to go – but last year he was tied for third with Andrew Brayshaw, who great judges believe is already one of the game’s best mids.
2. Jordan Dawson (Sydney to Adelaide)
Adelaide not only gets a big win over Port Adelaide, it gets one of the best wing combinations in the league.
Paul Seedsman had a spectacular year (606 metres gained per game) and the Crows slot in another player with a booming kick and a huge upside.
He can only improve leading forwards like Darcy Fogarty and Riley Thilthorpe.
The statistics say he’s a good kick, even if your eyes have you believe he’s absolutely elite.
Of all the players with 100 minimum kicks, he ranked 70 out of 378, but at the very least he adds 22.3 touches and 4.3 score assists to a growing team, only two years into a rebuild. But it’s one with expectations given the Adelaide fishbowl.
3. Patrick Lipinski (Western Bulldogs to Collingwood)
As a Dogs wingman, who played 73 per cent in that role this year, he’s just a handy player.
He was the sub for much of the year so, using another metric, his 19 possessions per 100 minutes is smack bang on the average for an AFL wingman.
But when looking at his potential, consider the four VFL games he played this year as an inside midfielder.
He averaged 156 ranking points, 35 touches, 13 contested possessions, seven clearances, 2.5 centre square clearances, 1.3 goals, 7.8 score involvements and 4.8 tackles.
There is no reason he can’t make an immediate splash with a top-five best-and-fairest finish next year, alongside Scott Pendlebury, Jordan De Goey, Taylor Adams and Steele Sidebottom as they give the kids in Nick Daicos and Finlay Macrae some cover as they find their feet.
4. George Hewett (Sydney to Carlton)
Why would Carlton give him a four-year deal to get him across as a restricted free agent?
Because it means Sydney won’t match that deal and, besides, his best is bloody good.
In his last year as a full-time mid – he only moved back into the midfield in Round 15 this year from half back – he finished second in Sydney’s best-and-fairest, averaging 88 ranking points, 22 touches, 10.9 contested possessions and four clearances.
He played 81 per cent midfield that year, and while he only played six games last year because of a bulging disk, in his other five years at Sydney, Hewett has played 24, 24, 23, 22 and 21 games.
5. Robbie Tarrant (North Melbourne to Richmond)
Why go for a 32-year-old, you say?
Because he’s got an outstanding record on the game’s best forwards and, apart from this year’s surgery to remove a growth, he has missed only four games since 2015 after a 2014 season wrecked by a tibia stress reaction.
So, there is no reason the Tigers won’t get three excellent years out of the free agent as the anchor of the club’s defence, freeing up Noah Balta to be his explosive self on the second or third tall, to allow Dylan Grimes a superior match-up and give Nathan Broad the space to continue his excellent form in a more offensive halfback role.
The flow-on effect from him shutting down the opposition’s best forward goes all the way down the chain.
6. Jake Kelly (Adelaide to Essendon)
Does this seem a strange move for a club stacked with mid-sized defenders?
Not when you consider that the best small forwards often caused considerable mischief this year to Essendon and Kelly’s specialty is playing on exactly those kinds of players.
He held Toby Greene goalless in 44 minutes this year head-to-head, held grand final hero Bailey Fritsch to one goal in Round 10, held Dustin Martin goalless in 60 minutes in Round 11, held Robbie Gray goalless in Round 21.
He lost just 17 per cent of one-on-one contests for the year, ranked sixth behind only Liam Jones, Jordan Ridley, Ryan Lester, Connor Idun and Aliir Aliir.
He was also ranked sixth in winning one-on-one contests as a general defender.
So he locks down the small forwards like Adam Saad in previous years, he allows Ridley and Nick Hind to become more offensive weapons.
7. Callum Coleman-Jones (Richmond to North Melbourne)
As a former pick 20 with four seasons under his belt, he’s clearly served his apprenticeship and, while he only played eight games this year, he kicked multiple goals in four of them, including four against Adelaide.
There were times Coleman-Jones failed to seize his moment, but playing 36 per cent ruck and 64 per cent forward, he was the third banana behind forward targets Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch.
Todd Goldstein played 91 per cent game time this year – the most of any ruckman – but the Roos played Tom Campbell in nine games and Tristan Xerri in eight games, so they are keen to play a second ruckman-forward.
Coleman-Jones doesn’t have to dominate playing behind Goldstein as the heir apparent.
And the Roos are excited about Todd Goldstein playing more forward so he should seek to double his output of 12 goals from 2021 next year.
8. Jordan Clark (Geelong to Fremantle)
Fremantle is keen to harness his outside speed and there is no doubt former pick 15 Clark is a talent.
In his debut season for Geelong, he looked a nice, quick composed midfielder, who displayed flashes of excellence but averaged only 14 disposals and 334 metres gained.
He would slot into a wing position for a Fremantle midfield stacked with inside talent but, to be honest, he needs to prove himself again, given a modest 2020 impacted by multiple injuries and a 2021 year with 11 games but three of them as the unused sub and another with only 21 minutes of game time.
9. Sam Petrevski-Seton (Carlton to West Coast)
West Coast is keen for Petrevski-Seton to play as a bona fide midfielder at times, but he has a lot to prove.
After 94 games, he’s not quite quick enough to be breakaway mid, not lethal enough by foot to be a dynamic half back, not prolific enough to be a full-time mid.
This year, he played 44 per cent defence, 17 per cent wing, 11 per cent pure mid, 28 per cent forward.
He didn’t nail any of those positions.
He’s never averaged 20 possessions, has a kick rating of plus three, which is good but far from great.
So here’s hoping Adam Simpson gives him enough midfield time – in what is a stacked onball unit – to show why he was a No. 6 draft pick.
10. Mabior Chol (Richmond to Gold Coast)
Chol has six years in the system for 31 games and 24 goals, boasting versatility as a ruck-forward and some eye-popping cameos.
But, if we are honest, he has teased with his talent.
He kicked 2.1 in Round 11 when he came back into the team this year then kicked 0.2 in the next five games then four goals in Round 18 against Brisbane then only one more goal for the rest of the season.
And rival ruckmen wore him down and, at times, dominated him in a Richmond midfield decimated by injuries.
He will get mismatches, rucking behind Jarrod Witts, and as a forward behind Ben King and Sam Day.
But he needs the biggest pre-season of his life so he can run out games and repay the faith of a four-year deal.
11. Nathan Kreuger (Geelong to Collingwood)
Kreuger is a canny acquisition by the Pies, who will win his services despite the interest of St Kilda. The Cats swingman has played only a single AFL game in three years – two of them with few real VFL games.
But in his first VFL season, he showed he can be an aerial threat averaging eight marks, three intercept marks and seven intercept possessions.
He also pushed forward to kick six goals against Coburg in that season and wants to play forward, so will have a chance to join Brody Mihocek and Darcy Cameron as a marking target in a team crying out for more of them.
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