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Last week Dan Lonergan wrote an article about how it was time for Collingwood to rebuild. In fact the Pies have been rebuilding since Nathan Buckley took over as coach.
He has already put his stamp on the list, clearing out a number of senior players in order to create his own culture and legacy following the Malthouse era. But will it be a success?
Following the traditional Queen’s Birthday fixture against the hapless Demons, Collinwood found themselves 8-3 and pundits were spruiking their top four chances, but it proved to be a false dawn.
Over the next nine rounds the Pies would crash back to earth with a thud and disappointing results against the likes of the Bulldogs and Gold Coast would see them splutter to 10-10. They look certain to miss the finals for the first time in nearly a decade.
Clearly this is no longer the 2010 Magpies. Buckley has brought in five top-20 draftees in the past two seasons. Despite what Lonergan wrote, the winds of change have been blowing for some time as the Pies realised they needed to reload with a fresh group for their next premiership assault.
Unlike the draft, which has been a consistent conveyer belt of talent into the club thanks to some excellent scouting and player development, their free trade acquisitions have been nothing short of horrid.
But look at the Magpies list and you realise the amount of youth on its books. With Dane Swan, Heritier Lumumba, Clinton Young and Luke Ball the only players over 28 at the start of next season likely to be at the club, suddenly pruning the list further becomes difficult.
With Nick Maxwell retiring, Quentin Lynch and Marty Clarke’s time in the AFL has finished. Peter Yagmoor and the people’s beard Ben Hudson can be culled from the rookie list. But now it gets a little tricky.
Collingwood won’t be a top-four contender next year but more than likely will improve on results from 2014 and find themselves in the bottom half of the eight, so where does that leave Luke Ball?
A combative warrior who has willed himself to every contest for 12 seasons, does he have another year left to give? If so is it in Collingwood’s interest to keep him playing for a final season if they won’t make a significant dent in September?
In his favour is the weekend knee injury to Brent Macaffer, which will sideline him until 2015. Does this open the door for Ball to become the Pies’ tagger? With all the young Collingwood midfielders still learning their craft, I doubt there is a better role model than Ball and would like to see him given another year.
Swan and the fortunate Young have another year to run on contracts, otherwise I feel the latter might have been sent packing while Lumumba still has good football ahead of him.
So does Collingwood have much room to trade? Obviously free agent Tyson Goldsack is at loggerheads with the club – rightly so given the reported $450,000 a season deal he is chasing.
No defensive forward is worth that, particularly with Goldsack’s form being patchy at best this season. I would suggest parting ways with Goldsack and taking the likely second or third round selection free agency would provide.
Buckley should have one thing on his mind come this year’s AFL draft and it must be a tall forward. With Darcy Moore coming on board along with Nathan Brown, Jack Frost and Lachie Keefe, the Pies have an abundance of tall backs but appear stretched up forward.
Travis Cloke is still the lone ranger and despite the attempted quick fixes of Lynch and Jessie White, the Pies can no longer depend on Ben Reid – whose body continually lets him down.
Could Buckley look to try and pry a tall from one of the expansion clubs? Surely it would be madness to attempt a third free agency acquisition in the forward/ruckman position trying to find another Leigh Brown.
If he was brave enough surely someone like Stefan Martin would be a perfect fit up forward, though no doubt cap space might be an issue. But history suggests the Pies do a lot better developing their own talent then poaching from other clubs.
The Pies need to stay the course and continue to recruit as much top draft end talent as possible.
Collingwood, despite the recent spate of injuries, has potentially a very good young list at its disposal. However Buckley needs to ensure that all these new recruits buy into his game style. When they don’t play with aggression and hunger the difference between their best and worst can be chalk and cheese.
Potential can be a very dirty word in football and the next two years will be make or break in terms of how much longer Buckley stays at the helm of Australia’s biggest club.
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