Be daring Collingwood. Do this!

[Boot]

This role was oringinally made up as part of the Malthouse / Buckley transition.

I don't think Buckley needs a football boss as such now that he is 3 years into the role and it is questionable if he ever really listened to Eade or Walsh.

I think this is an administration role best done by the likes of Grubby Allen or Walsh or Balme, however I think we have a couple of very intelligent guys who would be very good at it in the Collingwood environment that being either Nick Maxwell or Luke Ball.

Both these guys are intelligent and respected by most in the football world. The only thing they would need to demonstrate is that they are ruthless enough when it comes to negotiations on player salaries and being sneaky enough to lure and snare top talent from other clubs.

Bomber Thomson is not the man for this role and I doubt he will have another significant role with any football club again after the fallout of Essendope and his refusal to pay the $30K fine to the AFL he coped. Then there are all sorts of concerns on his general stability that don't suit the administration side of football.

[RudeBoy]

[John Wren]

[RudeBoy]

One of the valuable attributes of a good footy director or head of footy dept, apart from their organisational and people skills, is the football contacts and networking, with player managers, recruiters, talent scouts etc. I guess that's why bringing someone in from outside the club can be a good thing. However, I tend to think the person's people skills should be the most important consideration.