Are the Magpies in danger of hubris with their list management strategy and management of Nick Daicos?
Like Geelong, Collingwood has resisted the idea that a team should go through a downturn, a multi-year period of exile from title contention or finals, to replenish their playing stock.
Hatred of rebuilding was visible in the public statements and off-the-record musings of key Collingwood employees throughout the Craig McRae era.
This is also evident in the decisions made, as the Magpies oppose the convention that says teams must use the first rounds of the draft to rebuild a list old enough for lawn bowls.
This cannot continue. A reset is needed to ensure once-in-a-generation Nick Daicos leads the premierships multiple times over the next dozen seasons.
As we know, the Pies acquired the plucky Lachie Schultz and the footy Dan Houston at significant cost by trading the first rounds of the 2024 and 2025 draft, despite being the oldest teams in the history of the competition. They plundered the future.
This has repeated the pattern of burning first-round picks for mature players under different regimes.
Scott Pendlebury’s recently expressed position is that there is no need for Collingwood to rebuild because they are subject to different shooting rules.
“One of the benefits of being Collingwood in my time here is that you always attract free agents, you always attract really good players,” Pendlebury told 3AW, making clear he is not a fan of long-term rebuilds. “So sometimes you don’t need an outline.”
Last week at the Gabba we saw what Collingwood looked like without Daicos and the young Jedi and his trainer Pendlebury.
The strength was not with Collingwood, who were chipped away at by a Lions squad full of younger, sleeker legs and further strengthened by free agents Oscar Allen and Sam Draper. The gap between these teams has widened significantly since the preliminary final.
Daicos’ failed attempt to run free during the warm-up drew justified criticism from Leigh Matthews. Of course, as Matthews suggested, Collingwood should have adjusted the conditioning of their stars hours before the first bounce.
But Daicos’ management at the Gabba is yielding far fewer results than Collingwood building a slate around their young champions.
An ancient Greek term describing excessive pride or overconfidence (with an element of miscalculation), hubris is a vice that tends to affect big, powerful clubs as much as Oedipus.
In this century, AFL giants Essendon, West Coast and especially Carlton have displayed hubris and paid a heavy price.
“Daicos”, by the way, is a Greek (or Macedonian?) word that can be translated as “extremely talented Australian rules footballer”.
It is reasonable to wonder whether Daicos, a generational player, as well as his excellent older brother Josh, has led the Magpies to arrogantly pursue mature players at the expense of a longer-term path.
Collingwood will make their second appearance in 2026 when Angus Anderson takes the field against Fremantle on Friday. It’s telling that they’re both 22, not teenagers – with outcast Oscar Steene being the first (and successful) to do so.
Collingwood’s goal was to emulate Geelong by staying there, avoiding stagnation on the field, using a mix of trades, free agency and selective drafting. As Pendlebury confirmed (as previously revealed in McRae’s ill-advised “give me players, give me players” comments regarding 2024) the mentality is clear: we are Collingwood, we are not rebuilding.
Geelong has obvious parallels with Collingwood. They won the 2022 flag with an aging team, dipped the following season and came back again in 2024 (and 2025). For more than a decade they got by with generational players Joel Selwood and Tom Hawkins, as did Collingwood to a lesser extent with Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom.
It remains to be seen whether the Cats are much better than the Magpies. Based on results so far they could be half a length ahead.
A critical difference between Geelong and the Magpies is that the Cats gradually recruit young talent into the top 23, retaining enough draft capital to have a talented young group.
Collingwood doesn’t have anyone in the mold of 10-year key position defender Connor O’Sullivan, who was drafted 11th overall in the year the Cats missed the finals (2023). The Cats found Ollie Dempsey and Lawson Humphries later in the draft and had the blindside of selecting Max Holmes, just 23, in 2020’s COVID-compromised draft.
Collingwood is without Shannon Neale, who is also 23 and has developed into a competent forward, but there is hope that Charlie West can be a second/third power forward in the mold of Brody Mihocek.
Collingwood’s list management wasn’t helped by disagreements between the list’s new boss Justin Leppitsch and former longtime recruiting manager Derek Hine in 2024 when the Houston deal was made. Hine left the Tasmanian Devils shortly after starting work.
Collingwood made a mistake in not entering the top 30 of the rich 2024 national draft that Richmond had bet on. When Gold Coast’s first-round pick was offered in a trade involving John Noble and Collingwood’s 2025 first-rounder, they could have selected Jobe Shanahan (pick 30), a cheap offer for the Eagles, or one of the Tigers’ boys.. The cost of Schultz, who was selected with the 12th pick in 2023, was high.
Geelong’s free agency forays proved much more successful, forcing advantageous trades for game-changing champions Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron, who arrested the slides and kept the Cats in contention. Bailey Smith has strengthened a questionable midfield despite being such a transformative and more high-maintenance player.
Collingwood’s best trades have been notable bargains, such as Jeremy Howe, Jack Crisp, Darcy Cameron, Bobby Hill, rather than prized free agents. These were very important for the 2023 flag.
Collingwood has struggled mightily in 2025. If they had dropped a second flag on McRae’s management, it would have justified the short-term approach. They can happily jump off a cliff like Richmond.
However, they fell short because it was not clear what this season was about. They’re not shaping up as contenders, they’re not rebuilding and unlike Melbourne they’re not rebuilding with kids either. There must be a greater purpose than celebrating Pendlebury’s milestone.
If they aren’t already stuck in this undesirable no man’s land, Collingwood’s troops are massing near that border.
What needs to happen now? Less arrogance, more realism about the playlist. A free agent here and there (even Ben King) won’t be enough when the Magpies have so many holes, especially in midfield. Will premium free agents pick the Pies on the slide? Suspicious.
Pendlebury’s partner in crime for most of his career was Dane Swan. Despite his brother’s talents, Daicos has no such peer.
If they are to keep Daicos until the 2030s, the Magpies need to plan for at least three three- or four-year premiership spells over his 15-plus year career – as Pendlebury enjoyed (Daicos also had). This will require effective use of the draft, not just trade/free agency and the father-son lottery.
Collingwoodians can look at Essendon, Carlton, the West Coast and even Richmond’s semi-intentional crash and say to themselves “it can’t happen here”.
They may think they’re extraordinary, but the Magpies don’t operate by different rules. Daicos establish a ground only in autumn.
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Jake Niall is a Walkley-winning sports journalist and The Age’s chief AFL writer.Connect with: X or email.
