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Collingwood has always been a club that is ahead of the curve. The Magpies are one of the more innovative sides in the AFL.
Outstanding leadership, commercial success and a passionate loyal fan-base has meant that they are constantly able to look outside of standard tradition to take the game into new territories.
Much was made when Collingwood started overseas training in the United States during the year, not as much was made of the ongoing and consistent travel by their off-field team, assessing how to maintain off-field success.
While AFL clubs have caught onto the Collingwood ways on-field, Collingwood are still innovating off-field. Their drafting over the past five years has been one of accumulating assets.
The AFL for better or worse has created and revised its draft system around many of the concepts that come from world sport and more specifically American sport.
Elements of NFL, NBA and NHL drafts can be seen in the way the AFL draft has grown over the years. It therefore makes sense that studying these drafts and how teams approach these drafts is a way to gain an edge over the competition.
And indeed Collingwood has been doing just that. While most clubs approach the draft in a certain way, Collingwood look at it as a way of collecting assets.
For a team that has been a perennial finalist or finals contender, Collingwood have had an enormous amount of first round and top ten draft picks. They have been able to get these picks by treating players and picks as assets.
2014 was no different with Collingwood finding its way to two top ten picks. They had their hand forced into using one on highly regarded father-son pick Darcy Moore, before using the second top ten pick on Moore’s Oakleigh Chargers teammate Jordan De Goey.
While Moore is likely to be more of a project player, De Goey is a valuable asset in that he can immediately step into a defensive line-up that has lost rebound and carry.
De Goey has also shown to have successful character traits and appears a sharp football mind as his performance in the TAC Cup grand final showed. He was uncharacteristic as a top five pick, but does help where Collingwood need.
Collingwood’s focus with their secondary picks was on players that fit into the modern game plan with elite endurance.
Both Brayden Maynard and Matthew Goodyear are typified by being able to run all day, required in a game plan under Nathan Buckley.
These two appear solid picks for Collingwood, but again seem a little bit under the radar or uncharacteristic of where they were selected.
Collingwood should be admired for the research and work they do to stay innovative, but at the draft by thinking differently, the quest for assets doesn’t work quite the same.
It is funny, but the way Collingwood pick players in the draft, they value assets differently.
Indeed the asset is more of an asset until the player is picked. Collingwood are a team that would benefit most if things become more loosened.
It should be no surprise that Collingwood are one of the clubs trying to drive change in the AFL, they clearly believe they will have an advantage if the AFL becomes more Americanised as a draft.
If that day comes, Collingwood will have the real key asset: knowledge. Assets are power.
Follow Cameron on Twitter @MTC_MIKETOCAM
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