Collingwood president Jeff Browne declares Pies must trade for stars to stay in premiership contention

Collingwood president Jeff Browne has put the rest on the AFL on notice, declaring the Pies must get active in the trade period to acquire rival stars and stay in the premiership hunt.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 30: Collingwood President Jeff Browne and Craig McRae, Senior Coach of the Magpies celebrate during the 2023 AFL Grand Final match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 30, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Collingwood president Jeff Browne has declared his club plans to defy gravity and stay in premiership contention mode by aggressively poaching star players from rival clubs.

The Pies are understood to be a leading contender to prise Western Bulldogs’ midfielder Bailey Smith out of Whitten Oval at the end of the season.

Their 2023 flag was built off the back of shrewd trades to secure Tom Mitchell, Dan McStay, Bobby Hill and Billy Frampton and last year they added gun small forward Lachie Schultz.

“We don’t intend to go to the bottom of the ladder, so we can never really rely on the draft,” Browne told this masthead.

“We have got to trade, like we did last year with those four players (Mitchell, McStay, Hill and Frampton) and then we pick up Oleg Markov, and this year we get Lachie Schultz.

“We have to trade to improve our side. For successful clubs who don’t want to drop down to the bottom, the draft doesn’t really work for them.”

Smith, 23, appears certain to depart Whitten Oval. He is business partners with Magpie stars Nick and Josh Daicos and was constantly spotted with them over summer.

Jeff Browne and Craig McRae celebrate the Pies’ 2023 flag. Picture by Michael Klein

It’s understood Collingwood has privately told its players to ease up on their public outings with Smith to douse media speculation they would be playing side-by-side next season.

The Magpies have nine players on the wrong side of 30 including Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Mitchell. The looming retirements in coming seasons will free up millions of dollars in a salary cap that is also growing annually.

Trading for Smith would help immediately regenerate their midfield alongside emerging onballer Finlay Macrae.

It would be an ideal fit for Smith – who boasts 334,000 Instagram followers as one of the AFL’s most marketable players – to land at a powerhouse club in the premiership window.

It’s understood Schultz had as many as six potential homes last season, but chose the reigning premiers, who remain a destination club of choice. The Magpies parted with their first-round pick in this year’s draft as part of the trade for Schultz.

Browne also floated the idea of introducing an “outperformance bonus” for clubs who “contribute in an unbudgeted way to the financial health of the competition”.

The Magpies helped drive record TV ratings and attendances on their way to last year’s premiership and Browne wants a clip of the revenue they are delivering for the game.

They played nine games in front of more than 80,000 fans at the MCG and attracted 78,933 to their home game against Sydney this season.

Another bumper crowd is expected for Saturday’s heavyweight clash against Port Adelaide.

“In my capacity as president of Collingwood, I’m also going to call on the AFL to outline a process where the minimum base distribution for clubs equals the minimum spend under the TPP (salary cap),” Browne said.

Bailey Smith’s name keeps coming up in Collingwood trade talks. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“If they make us spend around $16 million on player salaries, they’ve got to give us $16 million by way of a base distribution, because they tell us we’ve got to spend that.

“It happens in the NRL. Last year the base distribution was just over $10 million.

“Collingwood only received the base distribution, we didn’t get anymore, and the majority of other clubs received an additional variable distribution, where the AFL tops them up.

“That is necessary in cases where clubs need additional funding for a variety of reasons, particularly those in developing geographies, and I don’t suggest that all clubs should get the same.

“But I reckon Collingwood contributed way more than one eighteenth to the value of the AFL competition last year because of our performances, our coach, our captain and the drawing power of our club.

“But for all that, we received the minimum amount from the AFL.”

By 2027 the salary cap will have swelled to almost $18.5 million.

“The AFL tells us you have to pay that, and the game is in great shape in terms of its revenues from its broadcast deals and sponsorships and the money it can make out of the newly renovated Marvel Stadium,” Browne said. “It has to pay to the clubs at least the amount that the AFL requires the clubs to spend on players.”

Originally published as Collingwood president Jeff Browne declares Pies must trade for stars to stay in premiership contention