By DaVe86

I’m ecstatic. Think this has been a really good off-season by our recruiting team.

Ultimately, I was dissapointed we did not snare Ball in trade week. Hindsight will say that it turned out for the best considering we kept Wellingham and Goldsack, and only lost pick 30. But we did it the hard way, and realistically still should’ve got the trade across the line.

But when you’re dealing with a hard-head like Lyon, you have to stand up for yourself. And we did that. Luck was with us…the cards had to fall our way. But we win, and they lose and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.

Darren Jolly – Cost us a lot I thought. It would’ve been great having a pick in the 40′s. But in the end, I wanted Ball, Buckley and Thomas and we got all 3. Plus we get an unknown propsect in Sinclair at 62 who was realistically our first pick in this draft.

Jolly is the ruckmen we have needed since Monky. Wood took leaps and bounds this year, but is not a premiership winning ruckman just yet. Jolly at 28 has years left in him. He never gets injured and will play til 33. He could even become a 100 game player for the Pies.

With Ball now in the midfield, the Jolly trade becomes so powerful. Not only do we have a gun ruckman, but we have quality at his feet. O’Bree, Ball, Pendlebury and Swan. That is a great clearance division.

Although we had to pay the extra draft pick, we did what we had to do to get the deal across. Roos was on a plane back to Sydney. So if we wanted our man, it had to be done.

Luke Ball
Perhaps the big fish of the off-season for us. He may only be a B grade footballer, but what he adds to a midfield is A grade. He is a bull at the contests. Has lacked a defensive aspect recently, but his tackling has always been a feature.

Collingwood will have guaranteed him gametime and Ball is looking super fit. I think he is getting back to him earlier speed and form. It has taken him a while to recover from OP.

Ultimately, this is a guy that wanted Collingwood and nothing else. He risked everything to be a Magpie. He left all other clubs under no illusion that it was Collingwood or nothing. And it was effective because the clubs let him go.

A fantastic acquisition for the club. He’ll bleed black and white. He’ll be a leader. And we screwed over Ross Lyon who tried to screw over both Ball and us.

Importantly, we did not give up. Once the trade fell through, it would’ve been easy to drop our heads. But instead we got an even better result that first thought.

A great onball division now. Let’s hope he stays fit. He is young enough to be a 100 game player for Collingwood as well. That’s what you want from a draftee.

ben Sinclair

Once we got Ball, we had to look at pace. We get this in Sinclair. Don’t expect anything short term, he is too skinny. But he is courageous, quick and skilled. So if we are all patient we could have a winner.

Probably a bit of a project player. And look, you can’t win off every pick. But at 62, and in a shallow draft, this sort of player was the way to go. because the upside is huge.

Josh Thomas

I had him down to be taken at 30. So to get him at 75 was a huge scoop. Obviously, someone gave him a guarantee that he would be drafted by opting out of the GC process. It must have been us.

Thomas has pace and ok skills. Has been compared to Cotchin, but I also see a bit of Foley in him.

This is fantastic work by Collingwood. These kids are bookmarked to be drafted by GC, so opting out of that is a risk to that player and involves them moving away from home. We have now convinced 3 players to do this. Taylor, Thomas and Beams. Taylor was taken by someone else, but that’s OK because atleast Gold Coast are not getting everyone.

We are the only real team pursuiing this approach. And we are getting quality player cheap. It is just another example of Collingwood recruiters thinking outside the square.

Simon Buckley

I don’t care what others say, I am a wrap for this selection. This is not a latest thing, I was on Buckley 2 years ago when i was scouting him for my dream team.

He has pace, good footskills and takes the game on. The obvious flaw is his decision making. But I believe this is largely due to the fact that he was playing for Melbourne. He had little support and it was from kids.

He was obviously instructed to take the game on and take risks. Often these risks came unstuck as he got caught often and often had no CHF leading up to him offering a target.

At Collingwood, you’d hope he’d have more support, and will also be given more structure.

I can honestly see him slipping into our 22. Apart from Shaw, we have no dash off half back. This is our downfall against Hawthorn and St.Kilda. Both will be top 4 next year so we’ll have to beat them to win the flag.

Again, it could turn out a nothing pick, but at 85 you can’t go much wrong. He is no worst than Shannon Cox anyway, and that is basically what it has cost.

Shae McNamara

Will now be rookied as an International. Another high risk/high reward pick. We’ve really taken the punt this year.

I don’t think Shae will be too far off. As a ruckman, his skill level does not have to be that of a midfielder or forward. He obviously has the height and agility to be a great ruckman. He seems to be doing the hard yards with his training so I think it will all come naturally to him.

I know we are all scared since we have lost Marty and Dyas. I too am sceptical. But as an international rookie it costs us nothing. Another example of our recruiters casting a wide net.

Conclusion

A huge off-season to date. I’ve been critical of our recruiting in the past because I don’t think we have made some tough calls. This year we have taken a risk, but have gone out and got our 2 targets. Our team is considerably stronger now.

My one worry is that guys like Reid, Brown, Dawes, Wood, Sidebottom, Beams, McCarthy and Wellingham all get pushed down the pecking order. In particular I worry about the talls. We need to expose these guys next year, even if it costs games.

I think 2011 is the year for us. But we should experiment in 2010 because we need another KPP to come through. But recuiting experience basically means we are going for a flag at all costs, which often means youngsters miss out.

But, I think we have recruited players who will offer 100 games plus to the side. These aren’t stop gaps. They are long term options.

if you look at St.Kilda and Geelong’s drafting over the last 5-6 years, they have had as many failures as hits. In fact, many of their top picks turned out duds. But they did well out of late picks, and built a strong side which played together for many years.

Collingwood is following this path, except I think our drafting has been spot on. There’s a few misses in there, but you have to understand drafting is a 50/50 thing.

Bring on 2010.