Pies to delist Young and banned AFL pair

Collingwood’s off-season player cull has started, with former Hawthorn premiership winger Clinton Young to depart the club along with banned pair Lachie Keeffe and Josh Thomas.

Young, 29, managed just 21 games – none in 2015 – in three injury-ravaged years with the Magpies after signing as an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2012 season.

Keeffe and Thomas accepted two-year bans from ASADA in August this year for testing positive to performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol – a substance they admitted to taking albeit unwittingly.

The club flagged its intention to delist the pair from the primary list at the time with an undertaking to pick them up as rookies if they nominate for the draft at the end of the season.

They are ineligible to return to the field until 2017, when their respective bans have been served.

Forward Sam Dwyer was the only other player removed from the primary list, with rookies Tony Armstrong and Michael Manteit also told their time at the club was up.

“People don’t always see what sacrifices are made to try to forge an AFL career,” Pies football manager Neil Balme said via a statement.

“The game asks an enormous amount of its players and all of the boys did what they could to give themselves a chance.

“We thank all of them for that effort and wish them well.”