Collingwood season review: The contract calls and trade questions to help Pies launch in 2025
Collingwood needs a bounceback after a disappointing 2024 season, but don’t have any draft capital to bring in young talent or hit the trade tables. JOSH BARNES looks at how the Pies can get creative.
The Magpies spent the whole summer adamant they would not suffer a premiership hangover but 2024 was one big headache.
No matter how much panadol the Pies took to stave off the hangover, a combination of injuries, loss of form and being hunted each week meant Craig McRae’s team missed the finals.
With the oldest playing list in the league – one that wont get much younger next year – Collingwood must now find a way to crack that premiership window back open.
The Pies have made it clear they will still search for ready-made players to drop into the team next year and push to return back up the ladder but have little to trade in this year’s draft, holding only picks 33, 48 and 51.
But even with the form of some veterans slipping this year, the biggest issue for the Pies was the younger players, with Nick Daicos the only player under the age of 25 to have a genuinely strong season.
Bobby Hill was the only other to have a decent campaign but he didn’t deliver to expectations after his Norm Smith Medal last September.
The Magpies have done the right thing by going after experience when they sit in the flag window but couldn’t find the balance with getting improvement and games into younger players.
And Collingwood gave a chance to four mature-aged players through summer or mid-year signings and none of them especially grabbed that opportunity.
So how does McRae bring back the magic his team soared on in his first two seasons at Collingwood?
OFF-SEASON MOVES
McRae put a key forward on the top of his agenda for the off-season but there is a very slim market for game changers upfront.
Outside of untried or fringe players, the Pies might have to pull a surprise and wrench someone out of a club.
Otherwise Tim Membrey and Elliott Himmelberg are on the market, as are delisted pair Sam Day and Matt Taberner.
Hardly needle-moving bigs.
Jake Stringer has been touted as a Magpie option and is a genuine goalkicker, plus he shouldn’t cost too much in a trade given Essendon’s lack of desperation to keep him.
Stringer at least bagged 42 goals this year but he is not a pack-breaking key forward.
Reports have indicated Dan Houston is on Collingwood’s radar but unless they reap a huge return for wantaway half-back John Noble, the Pies don’t have the assets to get in the conversation.
Collingwood really needs quality youth but currently doesn’t own a first-round draft pick.
Noble should fetch them a second-round equivalent choice.
OFF-FIELD DECISIONS
Even by their own admission, 2024 was a mess for the Pies.
Revered football boss Graham Wright took a sabbatical and instead of outright replacing him, the Pies elevated Justin Leppitsch and Brendon Bolton to fill his role.
They also moved things around in the coaches box under McRae and the shifts didn’t appear to work.
CEO Craig Kelly is not on the hunt for a new football boss and the Pies need some stability heading into next season.
NEED A LIFT
How many of these players were better in 2024 compared to 2023?
Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard, Oleg Markov, John Noble, Isaac Quaynor, Lachie Schultz.
All managed to largely avoid the injury dramas at Collingwood but didn’t keep at their own level from the year before.
Schultz was a disappointment after the Pies invested heavily in him with draft capital and virtually replaced Jack Ginnivan with him, with Ginnvan a roaring success at Hawthorn.
That band of players, plus injury-struck Josh Daicos, Jordan De Goey, Dan McStay and Beau McCreery are the backbone of this Collingwood team.
Simply, if they all play better next year, the Pies will obviously be a better team.
All nine of the Magpies aged over 30 will remain at the club next year and it’s probably unfair to expect them to step up their games, but they do need to shrug off injury problems.
Of that cohort, Jack Crisp (as usual) played every game, Steele Sidebottom, Scott Pendlebury and Will Hoskin-Elliott played 20 or more.
At different times, injuries affected Jeremy Howe, Mason Cox, Jamie Elliott, Brody Mihocek and Tom Mitchell.
That group needs to get its body right.
WAY TOO EARLY 2025 PREDICTION: 9th (12-11)
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