How did it come to this? The Blues faltered so the Pies are set to swoop on SOS

Carlton fans expected to be in the window, but are now facing the prospect of their most famous name playing for their biggest rival. Scott Gullan unpacks how it came to this.

Carlton fans are like a punch drunk boxer, they literally can’t take anymore punishment yet another thundering right hook hits them in the face in the form of Jack Silvagni potentially playing with Collingwood.

After asking each other, what else could possibly go wrong in 2025? The next question is, how did it come to this?

What must first be put to bed is there is no angst at all from Silvagni towards the Blues, coach Michael Voss or any of his teammates. He loves the place, always has and always will.

But Silvagni is a free agent and in the AFL world we now live in, this is what happens when you earn that tag. Rival clubs suddenly take a lot more attention and when they see an opening, they strike.

Silvagni looks on the verge of moving to Collingwood. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

That opening has been the 27-year-old’s emergence as a legitimate tall defender who for a period earlier in the season was rated one of the best in the competition before injury struck.

Collingwood have become elite in picking off free-agents from other clubs. They’re in the premiership window, are the biggest club in town and have a coach who is all about contending every year.

So for a second take away the Silvagni name from this equation.

Player Jack has battled to find a permanent position over his 10 years at Carlton, he’s been in and out of the side under various coaches, thrown around in multiple positions and had to fight tooth and nail to get to 128 games.

Every time his contract has been up, Player Jack has had to wait until August or September to get another one. And always only ever two-year deals rather than a big show of faith.

It meant there was always a seed of doubt in his mind about his future and seemingly he was continually having to prove his worth to new coaches.

He started as a forward early in his career under Brendon Bolton before falling out of favour at the start of 2019. He was left in purgatory until Bolton was sacked and David Teague came in as a replacement.

Some good games near the end of the season saw the Blues offer another two-year deal. He kicked the most goals in a season of his career in Voss’ first year of 2022 but then wasn’t picked for the Blues thrilling preliminary final run the following year.

Then in January 2024 he blew out his knee at training and missed the entire season.

So Player Jack entered 2025 wondering where he sat in things. He’d never quite made it as a third tall forward, had shown courage as a back-up ruckman but that has a limited lifespan so Voss shuffled the magnets and gave him a crack in defence, a position familiar with the family name (more about that later).

Player Jack shone with the opportunity before a groin injury interrupted things.

Arch rival Collingwood was impressed and with an ageing list, they saw an opening and thrust a four-year deal in front of Player Jack. He’d never seen these sorts of numbers, both in longevity and the dollars, before in his life.

It’s only human nature to have your head turned when such love comes your way. Then when premiership coach Craig McRae calls for a chat, the love meter goes up another level.

While this is going on your team is going from bad to worse. There are rumblings about the coach being sacked, there is a new CEO coming in and everyone at Ikon Park has no idea if they’ll have a job next year.

Now insert the surname again. His family history goes back three generations from his grandfather Serge who captained the Blues to his father, Stephen, a premiership winning defender in the navy blue and AFL Team of the Century full-back.

This is where the external noise comes into the scenario. His father no longer has anything to do with the Blues, he didn’t turn up to the 1995 premiership reunion this year and when Jack played his 100th game SOS stayed in the car rather than be a part of the jumper presentation.

The son of a gun’s possible move would be another blow to the Blues. Picture: Michael Klein

He now works at St Kilda after being sacked as Carlton’s list manager in 2019 and doesn’t hide his disdain for the club and his replacement, Nick Austin, who is currently fighting to keep his job.

So would SOS be upset if Austin dropped the ball and had an entire supporter group outraged that the last line of the famous Silvagni name was leaving for arch-rival Collingwood?

Of course not. It’s naive to think Jack doesn’t feel his father’s disappointment with the Blues but he’s now a father himself and this is a call about his own family’s future.

While new CEO Graham Wright felt the need to ring Silvagni this week to point out how much he was a valued person at Carlton, the reality is it’s a heart v head scenario.

And if it was Player Jack, history says we know what the result would be … a few extra smiles at the Silvagni family Christmas dinner.