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
Gecko
Guest
Sorry Cameron, but even your second explanation confuses me. Unless the reader can crack the code of what 'assets' means, it's hard to see how Collingwood's recruiting policy is different to anyone else's. What I can see is that we are taking a different approach to the Hawks. While they're keeping almost all their top players and topping up with ready-made AFL footballers, we're losing all our top players and topping up with 'potential'. Worrying.
Paul o'hanlon
Guest
If cox makes the mark look for collingwood to offer crows Grundy Kennedy and pick for you know who Or witts Thomas and pick for Cameron That's assetts Pies then look crazy If mason cox. Makes it imagine 2 monster rucks cloke Moore Elliott pendles freeman Sidey Adams danger field broom head greenwood due gooey WOw
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
+1. Bewildering article to say the least.
Dan
Guest
Have a lie down Andy
andyl12
Guest
What about Port Adelaide?
Bob Gooch
Guest
I think Hawthorn will be hard to toss again - don't let this go to your head (again) and that the mighty Dees will make the eight !
andyl12
Guest
What are your opinions about football Bob, besides your pipedream that the MCC and the MFC affiliate again? I"m yet to hear one. Let's start with a basic one, who would you back to win the 2015 flag?
Paul D
Roar Guru
Yeah, but we can see that too about his comments. You don't need to point that out everytime! Let them stand or fall on their merits, or lack thereof.
Bob Gooch
Guest
Yeah your probably right Paul - I don't care for his comments as they are full of it !
Paul D
Roar Guru
Can you really compare the NBA and the AFL though? NBA has 15 man squads, you’ve only got 5 blokes out on court at a time. I’m not familiar with NBA at all, but it strikes me you have to worry less about building up a collective team when you’ve only got a relatively small number of players getting first team action, and the culture there doesn’t seem to mind blokes who are on vast sums of money. In the AFL you’ve got squads of 40 odd, 22 guys in the first team and usually about 6-8 guys on the fringes. You can’t just go trading out large number of players/assets because it destroys your team dynamic and makes it hard for your team to work together up and down the ground if you’re constantly cycling in new talent every season. The only way Collingwood could really treat players like assets would be if free agency introduced the rule where players could be traded against their will, and clubs could arrange trades between themselves, much as what happens in America. Can’t see that happening anytime soon.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Agreed. We get it Bob, you don't like Andy. No-one cares.
Bob Gooch
Guest
Well said Casper our Andy is right up there that's for sure
Paul
Guest
Yep, let's let Collingwood and the other wealthy clubs do exactly what they want. I'm sure the competition will thrive. Well, for those 6 or 7 clubs who'd be left.
Casper
Guest
I'm with you Bob. I think Andy needs to take a break for a while. He seems to think that being a constant smart@rse is endearing.
Cameron Palmer
Roar Guru
In retrospect, this one maybe didn't quite hit the mark. I think the concept is there but didn't quite make it land on paper. Basically I think if you were to go inside the Collingwood list management team they view draft picks more as assets then any other team and the same with their players, they see asset. In American sport you see it, especially in the NBA, where teams simply try to gather key assets and that is what I think Collingwood are trying to achieve. The problem is because AFL is so young in free agency and trading and because so many restrictions apply Collingwood are not able to utilise the assets the way they want. I think in a free trading world Collingwood would be dominate in being able to grab assets through draft picks and then trade them on to get established talent. Right now what Collingwood want to do and what AFL rules allow are not aligned. Hope that clarifies a bit, but again apologise for the article, hey they cannot all be winners.
TomC
Roar Guru
This is getting very boring, Bob.
TomC
Roar Guru
Like others, I'm not sure I really understand the underlying contention in this article. Anyway, I think Collingwood have generally drafted pretty well, and part of the reason why is their willingness to look outside the traditional football states. From an unselfish point of view, it's a shame that one of the biggest sucesses from this approach in Dayne Beams has now decided to return home to Queensland. This year most of their prospects were a bit closer to home. Even the SA kid they took is the son of a former AFL player.
Bob Gooch
Guest
You've done it again Andy - your expertise with all AFL clubs is mind boggling ! Collingwood is your latest forbade into mind blowing comment. Is there no end to your talents !
Paul
Guest
Welcome to 2014.
AR
Guest
Yeah this is a pretty odd article. If you were going to look at recruiting, or drafting positional "assets", surely Hawthorn (or Sydney) is the club you start with. Hawthorn is the only club I acn think of which has drafted players according to a specific game plan (i.e. you must be a laser left foot kick...or you must be an elite runner).