The time has come. It’s time to put the biggest club in the AFL, Collingwood, under the microscope to break down their draft history since 2001.
Remember, The draft selections below will be labelled either sweet or sour depending on how that player’s career turned out. This could include playing 250 games, asking for a trade, captaining the side or being delisted after two games.
They’ve picked some absolute gems and some absolute disasters. So let’s have a deeper look.
Top five sweets
1. Dane Swan
The 2001 AFL Draft. The Super Draft. Luke Hodge, Luke Ball and Chris Judd. Did you know Dane Swan was drafted by Collingwood in that same draft? Pick 58. He was taken this deep into the draft as he wasn’t a highly sought after recruit in 2001.
But Collingwood showed a little faith and boy has he repaid them. We know he had behavioural issues early on in his career, but let’s focus on the oh so sweetness that is Dane Swan and his Collingwood career.
Premiership player, Brownlow Medalist, triple best and fairest, AFL MVP, five-time All-Australian, two-time Anzac Day Medalist, 244 games, 198 goals and… the tattoos.
2. Scott Pendlebury
It turns out Collingwood drafted an absolute superstar when they selected Scott Pendlebury with the fifth pick in the 2005 National Draft. If you remember correctly, Dale Thomas was Collingwood’s first selection, using pick two to secure his services. Oh how sweet things have turned out for Collingwood fans.
He played his 200th game for the club on the weekend, and his 35-disposal, three-goal performance is the perfect way to epitomise his career with the Pies.
Like Swan, his resume is a little intimidating. He’s a pemiership player, Norm Smith Medalist, five-time All-Australian, two-time Anzac Day Medalist, three-time Best and Fairest and he is the captain of the Collingwood Football Club.
3. Nick Maxwell
Collingwood fans loved him, everyone else did not. But putting love and hate aside for a minute, you can’t deny that a rookie drafted player, who played just over 200 games and was the captain of the 2010 premiership side isn’t a sweet, success story for any rookie drafted player in the AFL.
That’s right. Collingwood drafted Maxwell with the 15th pick in the 2002 Rookie Draft. Maxwell captained the Pies from 2009-2013, was All-Australian in 2009 and most importantly, captained the side to their first premiership in 20 years.
4. Travis Cloke and Heritier Lumumba in 2004
Collingwood drafted both Cloke and Lumumba (then known as Harry O’Brien) in the 2004 AFL Draft. Cloke joined the club under the father-son rule while Lumumba was selected with the 20th pick in the Rookie Draft.
We’ll start with the Big H. Things ended a little bit sour for Heritier and Collingwood at the end of last season and ultimately they parted ways and he was traded to Melbourne.
But Harry really did have a great career with Collingwood. He was a fan-favourite, he was known for his exciting run and carry, the crowd cheered every time he was near the ball, and he was only one game shy from playing 200 with the Magpies. An All-Australian and a premiership to go along with that.
Now to Cloke. He makes you feel very sweet when he takes a contested grab in the forward line. And then he makes you feel sour when you realise he’s 30 metres out from goal, directly in front, and you’re really not sure where the ball is going to end up this time.
But Cloke’s sweets outdo his sours. With 224 games and 408 goals, he’s been the only successful son of David Cloke’s to play in the AFL. He’s a premiership player, best and fairest winner, two-time All Australian and four-time leading goalkicker.
5. Steele Sidebottom and Dayne Beams in 2008
Another tag-team edition of brilliant recruiting by the Magpies, this time in the 2008 draft. Two brilliant, elite midfielders. Two premiership players. Two superstars. Sidebottom was selected with the 11th pick while Beams was plucked at pick 29 in 2008.
Sidebottom has always been underrated. It’s not hard to see why when he’s mixing with the likes of Swan and Pendlebury. But still, 129 games and 101 goals in and Sidebottom is on his way to an incredibly consistent and elite career with the Magpies.
Beams played in 110 games with the Pies, kicking 118 goals. He was a best and fairest winner and All-Australian in the black and white. No sour grapes here, you can’t begrudge the man for wanting to go to Brisbane to be closer to his sick father.
Worthy mentions
Heath Shaw (#48, F/S 2003 ND), Alan Toovey (#2, 2005 RD), Dale Thomas (#2, 2005 ND), Ben Reid (#8, 2006 ND)?, Nathan Brown (#10, 2006 ND), Chris Dawes (#28, 2006 ND) Tyson Goldsack (#63, 2006 ND), Sharrod Wellingham (#10, 2006 RD), Brent Macaffer, #26, 2006 RD), Jarryd Blair (#27, 2008 RD), Ben Sinclair (#62, 2009 ND), Alex Fasolo (#45, 2010 ND), Paul Seedsman (#70, 2010 ND), Brodie Grundy (#18, 2012 ND), Marley Williams (#35, 2011 RD), Sam Dwyer (#27, 2013 RD), Tom Langdon (#65, 2013 ND) and Jack Frost (#41, 2013 RD)
Top five sours
1. Chris Egan
Collingwood used their first selection (pick 10) in the 2004 AFL Draft on Chris Egan. This didn’t prove to be a great choice as Egan finished his career playing only 27 games in three years with the Magpies.
2. Richard Cole
Collingwood have another drafting blunder, this time three years earlier in 2001, when they drafted Richard Cole with the 11th pick in the national draft.
He played 56 games for the Pies before being traded to the Bombers where he played seven. They got #23 in exchange for Cole, but they wasted it. You’ll find out who it was soon.
Nick Dal Santo, Brent Reily, Kelly, Stevie J, Sam Mitchell and Brian Lake were drafted after Cole. The Pies took Cole with pick 11. They took Swan that same year with pick 58. Think about it.
3. Danny Stanley and Ryan Cook
In 2005, Collingwood picked up Pendlebury and Thomas with picks two and five. But they also had picks 21 and 23 in that draft. Number 23 became theirs in the trade for Richard Cole to Essendon.
They hit the nail on the head with Thomas and Pendlebury. But not so with Stanley and Cook. Stanley was drafted with pick 21, but only played five games with the club. He was rookie drafted by the Suns in 2010 but is a B to C-grade midfielder at best.
Cook played in 14 games before being delisted in 2010. Bernie Vince, Garrot Ibboton, Andrew Swallow, Alipate Carlile, Joel Patfull and Matthew Stokes were drafted after those two. They’re all still playing in 2015.
Imagine Pendlebury, Swallow and Vince running around together in the same midfield.
4. Billy Morrison
Billy who? That’s right. You probably haven’t heard of Billy Morrison after he played zero games of AFL, after Collingwood drafted him with pick 17 in the 2003 National Draft.
5. Dale Thomas
I almost resisted not including Dale Thomas as a sour. But I’m going to. You can disagree if you’d like.
You know by now that Thomas was taken at pick two in the 2005 draft by Collingwood. The sweetness comes in the form of 157 games, 121 goals, a premiership and All-Australian selection, all with the Magpies.
The sour comes after he left Collingwood to join arch-rivals Carlton, as a restricted free agent, on a $750,000 four-year deal. Collingwood didn’t match the offer, but they weren’t happy. Collingwood fans were furious that the once beloved ‘daisy’ would leave to join Carlton of all places.
Sweetness comes again in the form of karma for Collingwood fans as Thomas’s injuries have prohibited him from having a successful career at Carlton. It gets worse for Thomas. He won’t have someone to play kick-to-kick with anymore, as his beloved coach Mick Malthouse will not be coaching at Carlton anymore.
(Not) worthy mentions
Tom Davidson (#27, 2001 ND), James Podsiadly (#8, 2001 RD), Bowman Nixon (#21, 2002 ND), Luke Shackleton (#29, 2002 ND), Cameron Cloke (#43, 2002 ND), Brayden Shaw (#32 F/S, 2003 ND), Sean Rusling (#23, 2004 ND), John Anthony (except for that goal against Adelaide) (#37, 2005 ND), Lachlan Keefe? (#69, 2008 RD), Josh Thomas? (#75, 2009 ND), Kirk Ugle (#60, 2010 ND), Jackson Paine (#50, 2011 ND) and Kyle Martin (#13, 2013 RD)
Both sweet and sour: Ben Reid
Magpie fans it’s your call. You drafted him with the sixth pick in the 2006 National Draft. He has played 99 games but injuries have destroyed the last few years of his career. He started as a forward, then moved back and now they’re saying he’ll play as a swingman.
He was an All-Australian and a part of your premiership side. But go back and look at the entire 2006 AFL draft. If you had your time again, would you still draft him at pick six?
Final words
Collingwood’s recruiting has been pretty phenomenal since 2005. Look at your back line right now, as well as the uncapped youngsters coming through.
They’ve definitely had some misses. Big misses as well. But Collingwood’s strength seems to be drafting average prospects or not highly touted talent, and developing them into quality AFL players.
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Diplomatically answered, Darcy!
For all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the now-traditional Anzac Day clash at the MCG, there has been one thing conspicuously lacking over…
Old mate summing it up better than anyone possibly could!
