Collingwood's Trade Period: A Contrarian Take

Sport is about moments. Those moments can make or break players, clubs, or even supporters.

One of those moments for Collingwood players, coaches and supporters alike was the 2018 Grand Final. Had Dom Sheed missed that shot on goal late, and the Pies gone on to win the Premiership, things would likely look incredibly different at the Holden Centre.

Instead, the Pies found themselves with many players coming to the end of contracts off the back of career-best seasons in 2018, causing several headaches for list management. 

Sold on the prospect of Premiership glory being around the corner, and looking to right the wrongs of previous years, Collingwood made list retention an even more difficult task by trading for Dayne Beams without the loss of a player in their best-22. The trade for Jordan Roughead was a great move given Lynden Dunn’s knee injury, and that selection looks to have been vindicated, however was yet another hit to the salary cap.

Collingwood list manager Ned Guy had spoken on November 4 on Trade Radio highlighting the desire the get into the first round of the draft, given the drop from 2^nd to 4^th to 6^th on the ladder over the last 24 months, culminating in their heavy loss to Geelong in their semi-final.

That's now been achieved, with the pressure shifting to recruitment boss Derek Hine to find quality in what the club rates as a good draft crop. Given the lack of football for draftees in 2020 given COVID-19 restrictions, clubs with quality recruitment teams are likely to be rewarded.

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When you look at the grand final team from 2018, there were 20 of the 22 players from that team still on the list when Collingwood took on Geelong last month (James Aish and Tyson Goldsackhave departed the club). Three players who had since managed to secure big deals off the back of their form were Adam Treloar,  Tom Phillips, and Jaidyn Stephenson. Consequently, they were the three players traded on Thursday evening.

Whilst the trades appear one-sided, a lot has changed in all three camps since those contracts were signed. 

Starting with Tom Phillips, who was reportedly on a contract in the ballpark of $500,000, was delivered a contract that replicated his form in 2018. Coming 6^th in the Collingwood Best & Fairest, Phillips made a wing his own in 2018. He backed it up to an extent in 2019, averaging almost 24 disposals per game. 

This year however, it became clear that Phillips no longer commanded a wing in the same fashion. Were it not for a hamstring injury and Steele Sidebottom returning to Melbourne for family reasons, there's every possibility Phillips would have been dropped on the back of his late-season efforts. Phillips went from owning a wing to being left in the wake of Josh Daicos in less than a season, so it would have been hard to justify such a salary potentially sitting outside the best-22 in 2021. Hawthorn’s a great fit for Phillips, given they lost Isaac Smith to Geelong a couple of weeks ago. He’ll earn a spot on the wing with the Hawks, while he relieves Collingwood of some cap space.

Jaidyn Stephenson became the victim of positional depth. His best work is done leading out of the goal square, which unfortunately is also where Jordan De Goey does his best work. Stephenson has kicked three or more goals on nine occasions across his career. Seven of those have come when one of De Goey or Jamie Elliot has not been in the team. 

Whilst glandular fever did impact his pre-season, and many have called for Stephenson to play further up the ground, his efforts in his final three games of the year appear to have been enough for the Pies to make the call. Stephenson averaged 7disposals playing up the ground, two of those being in finals, and had only three disposals inside-50. He now finds himself at the Kangaroos on good money and helps address their needs without either De Goey or Elliot in front of him. 

The player with the most focus on him over the last couple of weeks has been Treloar. A lot has changed since that contract was signed, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Collingwood, still trying to deal with the fallout of the Beams contract. It also appears his playing style has adjusted over the last two years. 

In his first three seasons, Treloar averaged over 1.55, 1.57 and 1.63 uncontested possessions per contested possession. In 2019 that dropped slightly to 1.44, before dropping significantly to 1.09 in 2020. It begs the question, was this is a club directive, or was Treloar finding himself on the bottom of packs more often by choice, hampering his own ability to utilise his breakaway speed and pace for which he was originally traded? Has his game-style changed post soft tissue injuries without anyone noticing?

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Contested possession winners are not exactly in short supply now for Collingwood. Taylor Adams had career-best year. The same supporters who have been vocal over the trading of Treloar have been calling for Brayden Sier to play more at senior level, and that will happen in 2021. The ability for Callum Brown, Levi Greenwood, Jack Crisp, Rupert Wills (un-contracted), and even Brayden Maynard or De Goey to roll through the midfield and play a contested possession-style of game suggests the depth is there. And that’s even before you consider Brodie Grundy’s work at ground level as well as Scott Pendlebury’s exceptional consistency.

One of the biggest concerns for Collingwood has been kicking efficiency, and they have traded Stephenson (61.2% kicking efficiency / ranked 20^th at Collingwood this year), Phillips (60.3% / ranked 23^rd) and Treloar (49.2% / ranked 32^nd). They have decided that on form and personal circumstance, there's currently more value in shedding the majority of these three contracts for the betterment of the list moving forward. If it means De Goey, Darcy Moore and Brody Mihocek can also put pen to paper, then it looks to be the right call for the future. This coupled with having two first round picks and the rights to Reef McInnes and Nick Daicos over the next couple of years, and all the doom and gloom surrounding the Pies mightn’t be so necessary.

Like the 2018 grand final, this trade period looks to be another moment of note. 

Collingwood have ultimately made the call to build around their elite core of Grundy (26), De Goey (24) and Moore (24) for the years to come. They’ve invested in their under-26 nucleus whilst hoping to remain competitive. 

The Pies have often tried to keep members and supporters happy in the short term, however this looks to be the right call for the long game. Perhaps this is why so many felt hurt by last night, however ultimately this was perhaps the right call for the moment.

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