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After selling their future, Collingwood may have lucked in with 2025 draft haul
Lachlan Geleit • April 25th, 2025 6:30 pm
Collingwood have been all-in with regard to player movement in recent seasons, trading away quality picks for the likes of Bobby Hill, Lachie Schultz and Dan Houston, while bringing in free agents such as Dan McStay and Harry Perryman.
AFL Media’s Cal Twomey can’t see it stopping anytime soon either, with the Magpies set to try and chase premiership glory for every year of Nick Daicos’ prime.
Given Daicos only recently turned 22, Twomey foresees the Magpies continually building around their superstar across the next decade, much as Geelong has done with Patrick Dangerfield.
“They are in a fascinating spot in that they're all-in every year for the Nick Daicos decade, as they should be,” Twomey told SEN Breakfast.
“It's like Geelong chasing the flag around Patrick Dangerfield every year.
“This is the model that I think all the bigger clubs can take now. I'd be surprised to see Hawthorn shift away from this model over the next eight to 10 years now as well.
“Collingwood, I think, are just going to keep parlaying into the Daicos window and building around him.”
While the Magpies were criticised by some last off-season for again refusing to head to the draft and re-stock, Twomey expects them to do that anyway in 2025 even without having coveted picks up their sleeve.
Luckily for Collingwood, they could have access to two potential first-round picks in Tom McGuane (Father-Son) and Zac McCarthy (NGA), allowing the club to pick up highly-rated youngsters without needing to use top-end draft capital.
“The bit that's probably really quirky this year is that they don't have a first-round pick, but they do have these Academy and Father-Son players coming through,” Twomey said.
“Tom McGuane for me is probably a player in the 20 to 30 (pick) mark as a Father-Son.
“But the other guy, Zac McCarthy, who is a key forward that is 200 centimetres, he's kind of come from nowhere for the Oakleigh Chargers. He might well be a first-round pick.
“We talk about them selling their future and kicking the picks down the road, but in the end, they might end up with two in the top 25 picks anyway by virtue of the system.
“The difficulty is finding the points, but I think the way the system is built, they'll be able to bring forward their picks from next year, drag them into this year, and pay for those two and maybe a couple more later on as well.”
The Magpies could also have access to another pair of players in the draft with Jai Saxena a small forward NGA prospect and Father-Son Oscar Lonie showing his wares for the Dandenong Stingrays.
