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Gisborne: Planned outages Tue-WedDelisted Magpie's positivity ahead of uncertain AFL future
SEN • October 13th, 2025 4:42 pm
Despite being delisted, Collingwood's Charlie Dean has exited his Magpies chapter with an overwhelmingly positive mindset.
At 24 years of age, Dean was let go by the Magpies having played four games in 2025 and just 12 games since joining the club in 2021. Copping numerous injury concerns over his opening years at the club, Dean's career on-field may have been short-lived, but the defender leaves with nothing but fond memories of his time in the black and white.
“I had 'Fly' (Craig McRae) and Charlie Gardiner (GM of Football) in my meeting,” Dean told AFL Trade Radio.
“As weird as it sounds, it was actually a really good meeting. It was more of a celebration of the relationships built, and the strong bonds formed.
“Obviously, it sucked at the start of that meeting, hearing the news (that I was being delisted), but from then I quickly moved to how much joy I’ve had over the last four years, and I really wanted to leave on a good note because I wasn’t going to change the decision in that meeting.
“The talk was more around how much value I’ve gained from the experience at Collingwood, and to be honest, they were the club that gave me this opportunity. It’s easy to be bitter and to find reasons why you might have been hard done by, but I think every delisted player would feel that.
“The harder choice at the time was sitting back and going, ‘this club has given me so much, and I’ve taken so many good relationships that I will have for a long time from it’. The chat with them was more of a celebration, which was good.
“The reasons around not getting a contract was centred around some on-field stuff – I didn’t quite take my chances this year as much as I could have. In saying that, I started to feel really comfortable at the level this year, so I was proud of some of my performances.
“Ultimately, they’ve decided to go a different direction which sucks, but hopefully I can continue to improve as a footballer wherever that may be next year.”
Despite entering his exit meeting without a contract for the following season, Dean was holding out hope that he would receive a further chance at the Collingwood Football Club, citing his intense training and readiness heading into the latter stages of the season as his final push for a spot on the list in 2026.
“You always think there’s hope,” Dean admitted.
“I didn’t really know prior to the meeting. My manager had been in talks in the weeks and months before, so I was putting my best foot forward at training, staying ready to come in.
“I was still really hopeful which made it hard, but the communication in that meeting was (great). Once you go in with a certain level of uncertainty, you know it’s a fair possibility.
“Last year I had to wait until the end of trade period as well for a contract, so I’ve sort of had that experience. Ultimately, I sit back now and go, ‘I’m so lucky for the way I’ve been brought up, Mum and Dad turned me into a pretty well-rounded person, so I’m excited for what’s next.
“That moment still hurt, but I feel like I’m well-rounded enough to have things to look forward to outside of footy.”
Without an AFL club for next year, Dean has carried on his training while holidaying in Tokyo in preparation for a potential lifeline at the level.
“A lot of my training this year was just around improving my speed and power,” he said.
“I was really happy to get a PB in my jump testing and a PB in speed in the last few months at Collingwood. I was really happy to leave with that achievement, because I couldn’t really work on that stuff within my first few years.
“Right now, I’ve been doing some running and some gym, maintaining those fitness levels. Next week I’ll start to ramp up, because I’ve learnt a few lessons about burning out a bit too early in pre-season.
“I’d like to say I’m pretty professional, so the next few weeks will be match-fit, some running and some gym.”
And in holding out hope of securing a new home, Dean has admitted that he would be more than open to a move interstate.
“Absolutely. I think (being an AFL player) is such a great job, you’ve got so many people looking after you when you’re playing footy.
“I still have that inner voice that I am good enough to play at AFL level. I really felt that this year and through patches last year. I feel like I’m a better player in the way that I train and work hard, and I’ve become a better player over time.
“I’m really confident that I can take that to another club, and while I’ve got that fire in my belly, I would happily move anywhere to keep that alive.”
