Collingwood’s recruiting, draft calls paying dividends in preliminary final run
COLLINGWOOD’S controversial trades are bearing fruit as draft steals play a key role in the Pies’ surprise premiership tilt. Time to give Derek Hine some credit. SEE EVERY PIES DEAL SINCE 2011.
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NATHAN Buckley wasn’t the only man under the blowtorch at Collingwood last season.
When the Magpies’ campaign hit the skids, sparking a searing club review, the claws came out for the Collingwood recruiting department.
And for a period, it was unclear whether list chief Derek Hine would remain at the club.
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There was tonnes of criticism about the call to let-go some premiership heroes, some of the bold trade moves which were yet to pay off, and left-field draft choices.
Who the heck was Brayden Sier anyway, we all thought mid last year.
And when their main move in last year’s trade period was to hand over a future second-round draft pick for Sam Murray, an unknown back pocket off Sydney’s rookie list, radio talk back went into meltdown.
Hine, the man who handpicked the 2010 premiership list, was under the pump in the nightly news bulletins.
But, 12 months on, as the Magpies prepare to take down Richmond on Friday night for a shot at the Grand Final, the tide of public opinion has turned significantly in favour of many of those contentious recruiting calls.
We’ve known Collingwood’s top shelf including Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom is as good as anyone, but the beauty about the Pies’ year has surely been the growth form the mid-tier and lesser types.
The C-Graders, who have become A-Graders.
And many of them were still Hine finds. In this 2018 Collingwood resurgence, the former fireman is the forgotten man.
Greater Western Sydney discard Will Hoskin-Elliott is the club’s equal leading goal kicker, Tom Phillips (pick No.58), Tom Langdon (No.65) and Josh Thomas (No.75) were value pickups late in the draft, Brayden Maynard (pick No.30) looks a steal, and Sier (No.32) has suddenly become a crucial onball cog.
Sier was a bloke who came from nowhere, playing only two TAC Cup games, but Hine and his lieutenant Matt Rendell saw the makings of a midfield beast.
The Pies insisted on Jack Crisp from Brisbane, tipping the Dayne Beams deal in the Pies’ favour, and Brodie Grundy (pick No.18) and Jordan de Goey (No.5) are genuine superstars of the game.
Running machine Adam Treloar, who cost the best part of two first-round draft picks, helped power the Pies home in the last quarter against the Giants.
Levi Greenwood and Jeremy Howe, who were also both traded-in, will be pivotal to stopping Richmond on Friday night, and the Taylor Adams for Heath Shaw swap was also a big win-win, as much as the Shaw loss hurt at the time.
Perhaps the list wasn’t as messed up as it was thought, at the time.
Crucially for Hine, when it came to the crunch in last year’s club review, footy boss Geoff Walsh played a big part in saving the talent expert’s skin.
Walsh knew Hine had one of the best eyes for talent in the game, and shifted him from the list chief gig back to national recruiting manager.
It might have been a kick in the guts at the time, but the move was designed to get Hine back to what he does best – and that’s find elite talent in the junior competitions.
So the deck chairs were shuffled, and Collingwood is thrilled with the moves since new list boss Ned Guy took over, welcoming Rising Star winner Jaidyn Stephenson (pick No.6) as well as rookie pair Brody Mihocek and Flynn Appelby.
It’s added a much-needed lick of cream to the Collingwood cake, but the Pies would suggest the bulk of the talent was already in place.
COLLINGWOOD RECRUITING SINCE 2010 PREMIERSHIP
2011
Trades: Jamie Elliott, Marty Clark, Peter Yagmoor
Draft: 50 Jackson Paine, 65 Corey Gault, 67 Jarrod Witts
Rookies: Lachlan Smith, Marley Williams, Trent Stubbs, Daniel Farmer, Caolan Mooney, Michael Hartley
2012
Free agents: Quinten Lynch, Clinton Young, Jordan Russell
Draft: 18 Brodie Grundy, 19 Ben Kennedy, 20 Tim Broomhead, 38 Jackson Ramsay
Rookies: Kyle Martin, Sam Dwyer, Adam Oxley, Jack Frost, Ben Hudson, Peter Yagmoor, Ben Richmond
Lost: Jordan Russell to Carlton, Chris Dawes to Melbourne, Sharrod Wellingham to West Coast, Tom Young to Western Bulldogs
2013
Trades: Taylor Adams, Patrick Karnezis, Jesse White
Free agent: Tony Armstrong
Draft: 6 Matt Scharenberg, 10 Nathan Freeman, 65 Tom Langdon, 77 Jonathan Marsh, 87 Sam Dwyer, 92 Adam Oxley
Rookie: Corey Gault
Lost: Dale Thomas to Carlton (free agent), Heath Shaw to GWS, Jackson Paine to Brisbane
2014
Trades: Jack Crisp, Levi Greenwood, Travis Varcoe
Draft: 5 Jordan De Goey, 9 Darcy Moore, 30 Brayden Maynard, 48 Matthew Goodyear
Rookies: Michael Manteit, Brenden Abbott, Tony Armstrong, Mason Cox
Lost: Dayne Beams to Brisbane, Heritier Lumumba to Melbourne
2015
Trades: Jeremy Howe, Adam Treloar, James Aish
Draft: 32 Brayden Sier, 58 Tom Phillips, 63 Rupert Wills, 65 Ben Crocker
Rookies: Lachie Keeffe, Josh Smith, Josh Thomas, Tim Golds, Darrean Wyatt
Lost: Paul Seedsman to Adelaide, Ben Kennedy to Melbourne, Nathan Freeman to St Kilda
2016
Free agents: Daniel Wells, Chris Mayne
Draft: 30 Sam McLarty, 35 Callum Brown,
Lost: Jarrod Witts to Gold Coast, Travis Cloke to Western Bulldogs, Marley Williams to North Melbourne, Nathan Brown to St Kilda (free agent)
Rookies: Mitch McCarthy, Henry Schade, Liam Mackie, Max Lynch
2017
Trades: Will Hoskin-Elliott, Sam Murray
Draft: 6 Jaidyn Stephenson, 39 Nathan Murphy, 50 Tyler Brown, 50 Kayle Kirby, 57 Josh Daicos,
Rookies: Flynn Appleby, Brody Mihocek, Adam Oxley, Jack Madgen (category B).
Lost: Jack Frost to Brisbane, Lachie Keeffe to GWS (free agent)
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