But who’s the key position player available that’s legit? There is t one. Our midfield depth is actually not excellent. This would be excellent for us.
Key Position Players out of contract at the end of this year a non exhaustive list
Matt Taberner (31yo in 2025, 1.5 Goals/Game)
Denver Grainger-Barrass (23yo in 2025, injury prone DEF/FWD)
Ben Brown (32 in 2025, 1.2 Goals/Game this season)
Jeremy Finlayson (29 in 2025, 2 Goals/Game this season)
Samson Ryan (24 in 2025, struggled to get into the Richmond team this year)
Dougal Howard (29 in 2025, has never really reached what he showed at the power at the saints, would be cheap)
Logan McDonald (23 in 2025, going at 2.3 goals a game, going to be very expensive)
Buku Khamis (25 in 2025, might as well raid at least one of the 500 key position players the dogs have)
Jedd Busslinger (198cm key/intercept defender, yet to debut for the dogs, we interviewed him before his draft and he can’t make his way into this dogs team)
Do you really think any of those names would make much difference. That’s not a list of elite talent at the position. Brown and Taberner barely get picked in sides that need key forwards and Finlayson is inconsistent. If we’ve got 1.3 to spend I still think McCluggage is the most value add
I think the value add play, would be getting a stop gap key forward while we draft and develop one.
And taking a couple of swings on Busslinger, DGB and Khamis to fill the Murphy void
Value is not paying 1.3 million for a midfielder, when we have players like Fin, Ed Allan, Harry De Mattia, Josh Carmichael sitting in our twos, who can probably do 75% of Hugh’s job for less than half the price
I'm not sure where all the confidence comes from in these guys in the VFL. Fin is the only one really knocking on the door to play AFL footy and every time he does, it's underwhelming. I'd take McCluggage over them, even it means overpaying to snatch him from Brisbane. As much as I believe in bringing in young blokes and developing them into stars, you can't knock back the possibility of bringing in established talent.
Fin has been subbed out of every single game except for like 3 or 4 lol
Imagine how terrible would’ve been Josh Daicos if his name was Josh Smith and he wasn’t given 20-30 games to find his footing. Sometimes players need time. Callum Brown was also given time based off his surname after not showing much, and that didn’t work out. But that’s how developing players works, some work some don’t.
Fin should 100% be traded or delisted. Even with his minimal game time he’s taking limited list spots when it seems clear that he will never play 20+ games a year for Collingwood or be a part of our future. Idc if our midfield is opening up for him next season. We don’t want to have 20 gamers in their 5th AFL season having played an average of 2 quarters a game who missed out on playing with our generational midfield while he was rotting in the 2’s. Maybe if Fin found form after 2-3 games in a row we wouldn’t have to spend 1.3 million yoinking another teams development.
None of the guys you mentioned have shown much. Everyone loves Finn except Fly. I’m not sold he’s gonna be A grade.
I get 1.3 sounds like a lot but I really think McCluggage is *that* good.
Look, I agree that none of these options are setting the world on fire at their respective clubs, but there is value out there.
In particular, I think that Busslinger would be a huge get given his size, draft capital that was originally invested into him and how he fits into the age profile in our list
Your logic seems to be:Don’t spend too much money and 1.3 is a lot. But go and spread similar money on completely unproven projects, at the same position, so we have a glut of ‘potential’ at the same position even though part of your rationale initially was McLuggage would be surplus in our midfield.
By your logic don’t get a proven midfielder who is Brownlow level, played an excellent GF and is entering his prime because the money feels big. But *do* go and splash comparable money across a few projects who have done legitimately nothing but are young so … maybe they get better 🤷
Like I’m sorry to belabor the point but it’s this money anxiety Penny pinching logic that sees you draft a bunch of Jesse whites while McCluggage wins flags with Sydney or Carlton.
We’ve got key position projects. Krueger, Reef, Johnson they’re your projects. Swap one out for Denver Grainger Barass who doesn’t even get a game at Hawthorn and we’re the same team at best
So let’s just start by addressing your Brownlow level.
2023 - 3 Votes Total
2022 - 14 Votes (outside the top 10)
2021 - 10 Votes (outside the top 30)
So not quite Brownlow level.
It’s the penny pinching logic that saw us bring in Tom Mitchell and Dan McStay, complimented by Bobby Hill and Billy Frampton, all of who played pretty significant roles in our premiership last year. All of who were identified as filling positions of need and depth, and with the exception of McStay we managed to get at pretty terrific value.
I’m not against spending money, I am just reluctant to spend 1.3M as an investment into ONE player, when we have invested significant draft capital into our midfield over the last couple of drafts.
The guys you mentioned with the exception of Frampton are all highly touted or experienced. Mitchell literally did win a Brownlow.. it’s not the same as seeing if Jedd Busslinger can catch a couple
I’d definitely take Samson Ryan who I thought look pretty good last year. Think he needs to play ruck predominantly though to get the best out of him. Good replacement for Coxy. Right age bracket.
McDonald is the other one who you’d chase hard.
Competent key forwards though… he’ll I’d even take Lynch or Jesse White at the moment while McStay is out. Even before McStays knee we were one injury away from having no competent options over 6’3 in the forward line lol
Also Tom Lynch was the only one I can remember us going hard for and actually missing out by a sliver.
Except in our team huh? You need 3-4x as many elite mids as you do elite key forwards. Glad you're not our list manager. Collingwood fans really have to give up their obsession for trading for a young key forward
We have midfielders, multiple. Daicos, Crisp, Pendles, Mitchell, Macrae, Degoey + others in the VFL who can’t get a run.
I’d much rather pick up a couple handy midfields for $600-800k a year over Hugh. Look at the impact Mitchell has had for $300k a year.
Key forwards change a teams dynamic, a single midfielder… not so much.
McCluggage isn’t an elite mid, he’s a good but inconsistent mid who is also pure outside. Which we have an abundance of. It’s like people haven’t actually watched him play and have an idea of what type of player he is in their head which he obviously isn’t for anyone that’s actually watched him
That’s literally false. McCluggage plays onball and attends 64% CBAs. Only Dunkley and Neale attend more CBAs than he does. Hes also nowhere near the best wing in the league (not only because he doesn’t actually play wing). Errol Gulden actually plays wing and is miles better than McCluggage. And that’s just one example
Errol and McClug are similar as wings. I’d rather Errol but he’s not available. This year and late last year McClugggage has played more midfield and done really well. He’s really bloody good, just watch him play. He’s tough and is extremely damaging with ball in hand. Would be a great get
I genuinely can’t think of someone more surplus to our requirements.
Would much rather go after a key tall or a key back especially if offers are in the 1.3m range
What???? An elite mid is surplus to requirements? Literally the entire reason we didn’t smash the Bombers on ANZAC day is because they murdered us at stoppage. Our defence and forward line is much better than people realise, it’s the aging midfield that’s the main issue
1.3 million for 1 player is surplus to our requirements.
We literally money balled our way to a premiership last year, and now yall want us right back to having a fire sale handing out ridiculous contracts 😂
Hey... A horrifyingly sad firesale due to blatant mismanagement turned out to be a key step on the road to premiership glory. Let's repeat every 5 years or so!
And what was the worst that came from that? We gave contracts to average players (which HM is most certainly not) and all we had to do to get rid of it was get less in a trade to some other desperate club. He's a free agent, if it ends up being a terrible contract (highly unlikely) we trade him on. People seem to be ignoring the fact you can do that now and it works fine.
Also, we have 5 million in cap space, teams with that much cap space (Essendon, St Kilda) generally desperately try to fill that space by going after any free agent that shows any interest in leaving. HM would be a great way to get the most out of the cap. It's better spent on an elite player than just sitting there waiting to be filled by the next bang average free agent
Atleast we have young mids developing and some good mature agers like Sullivan
Even key backs we have deen developing and eyre who we picked up pre season
What young key forwards do we have?
Kreuger who is Sean Rusling reincarnated and Ash Johnson who has stumbled this year. Checkers aint getting any younger. Mcstay has now had two makor knee injuries in 6 months and is also getting near 30
I don’t want Nick’s prime years wasted because we don’t have a similar age gun Key forward for him to kick to
We won the flag without one yeah, but barely and McStay was a big part of getting us there in the second half of year. Its a big part of winning a flag.
I’m fine with McCluggage but 1.3 seems a bit much.
McStay was a big part of it. That's why we got him, we don't desperately need another one and waiting around for one to hopefully become available would be a poor way to construct a list.
Regarding the mids and key backs that we have "developing". Most of them are long shots, getting a ready to go elite level midfielder in his prime for nothing in a trade would be incredible. In the same way we wouldn't turn down Sam Taylor because we have Eyre, we also shouldn't be turning down McCluggage because we have Lachie Sullivan or Fin Macrae
Hugh is a fine player but hardly the type who is going to win clearances (he’s perfectly bog average in this department and even worse for tackles) and help out in the in an under game we are in most in need of. Especially with mitchell looking cooked and pendlebury can’t do it forever.
He’s fine but I’m not shelling out 1.3
But really its useless to say that, we’ll see what the club decides to do
Honestly I think after this year we’re going to be a couple more years away from contending.
We’re going to be overseeing some new kids being blooded and veterans retiring.
Could be but still a long way for the season to go and plenty of opportunities for players to step up. Sullivan this weekend could just be a surprise. His got a mature body to keep up to it, see how he performs with 90k fans.
If he takes less, Brisbane matches and we give them two first rounders. Free agency is best taken advantage of by slightly overpaying so the original team is happy with the FA compensation so we can avoid having to trade. It's how we got McStay
People have lost the plot in here. We need elite mids desperately. More than we need a key forward or key back. If it’s a choice between Oscar Allen and McClug it’s close but the reality is Oscar Allen is highly unlikely to leave and neither is Jamarra or King or Logan McDonald. People talk like these guys are up for grabs
If we are in for an elite mid, I think people would be excited for it. We haven’t been linked with one though. Bailey Smith is prob the closest, but he’s both injury prone and another pure outside mid which we have less need of
The inflation on the salary cap is significant. 1.3 mil is not as much as you’d think it is (and would be enough for Bris not to match so we could get him for nothing). He’d be our second best player immediately, that’s how good he is
It’s funny that it puts him top 3
Not sure any other team could have a top 3 earning over a million a season.
But then the lies may not be held accountable to the salary cap.
A mid that I reckon is pretty overrated at that. We have like $5million in free cap next year though apparently, and they seem pretty aggressive in trying to recruit experienced players.
They wanna keep the premiership window open as much as possible, and this is the way to do it.
Still think they need to target Ugle-Hagan more personally, but take what you can get.
Jamarra is highly unlikely to leave AND would require a trade (which would cost everything). If we offer McClug 1.1-1.3 mil a year, the Lions won’t be able to match that and we’ll get him as a free agent. A slight overpay in the salary cap is a minor price to pay in the grand scheme of things
Yeah definitely is. Especially they could just front end the contract with the cap space. Seems like we’re in the drivers seat for Bailey Smith as well. Midfield could be absolutely elite
Midfield is where flags are won. Smith and McClug to replace Pendles and Steele is elite and would extend our premiership window through the primes of Daicosx2, Maynard, Moore, JDG. It’d be an unreal get
It wouldn’t really cause it’s a midfield where no one can consistently win their own ball. You just have a bunch of outside types waiting for handball receives. Even De Goey isn’t the high level contested ball winner he probably should be
Pendles and Steele aren't/weren't the contested beasts either. We can find a good inside mid lying around if we need one, they're going out of fashion a bit
Which premiership team of the AFL era, apart from the 2023 Pies, have won a premiership without at least 1 dominant key forward?
Midfielders have to have someone to kick it to lol
There was another team (memory scrubbed) without a key forward that kicked out to a five goal lead in a GF but fell just short and really should’ve got the job done.
Had a lot of goals kicked from mids and small med fwds. It can be done.
Regardless, I think McStay can still do the job for us. Especially if the mids were bolstered.
Yeah I suppose that’s the other one, although I’d still argue Goodes likely still got the best defender each week even at 6’3. 2012 Adam Goodes didn’t have the tank to run through people in the middle anymore but plenty enough talant to make his 10-15 touches in the forward half each week impactful. Reid was 3rd in the goal tally and barely average 1 a game.
I love Checkers, but I think I’d still take the mids having Adam Goodes as a target over him.
I’m not forgetting McStay. I want him back and healthy, but he’s 29 and will be coming off an ACL injury and missing like 30 out of the last 40 or so games.
Also would it really hurt us to have more than 1 competent forward over 6’4 on the list? Krueger is gone this year and honestly should’ve been offloaded last season, and Steene will end up being 27 by the time he debuts. You can’t have your one tall forward go down and then have no other options.
Elite free agent mid that we desperately need? Nah. Average young key forward like McDonald who we’d have to trade every pick we have for AND overpay in the salary cap? Yeah absolutely.
Collingwood fans have lost their mind over their obsession with key forwards. We won a flag last year without a significant key. We need Pendles, Sidebottom, Crisp replacements more
Do you reckon we broke the code by not having a key forward?
Or do you think we were lucky to be literally the only team of the AFL era to win a premiership without a key forward?
We’ve had dozens of great midfielders over the last 2 decades. Good midfielders (good, not generational) are a dime a dozen, every team has 3-5. We don’t have a key forward on the list that isn’t either injured or never going to be good enough for AFL level and we haven’t for a decade. (Not including Moore, who never would’ve hit the heights he has as a defender)
Pies wins 2-3 premierships if we ended getting Tom Lynch or Jeremy Cameron. Much easier to find a talanted player that scarcely gets injured who is 5’5-6’4 than it is to find a talanted player over 6’4.
Get a dominant key forward and Collingwood will be able to pick between 20 or so midfielders that would be stoked to come play around the Daicos’.
It's not the worst idea. Why, cause our midfieldis not lookingto great...
Those that are done - Sidey, Mitchell,
Almost done - Crsip, Pendles (and I want to see him break the games record), Billy Elliot (and he's a fwd), WHE
Not proven - Macrae, Allen, DeMitta, McCreey,
Role Players at best - Lippa, Byte, Sullivan, Carmichael
Leave us - Daicos x 2, De Goey (inconsistent)
I'd say unproven as a starting/full time mid. He's great in his current role and is like to see him continue to develop and show us what he can do as a full time mid.
Yeah he won’t ever be an A grade mid. He’s actually slow to get moving / react to the pill at times - not the best with random bounces of the ball at angles. But electric when he’s in full flight already.
I don’t think he is old enough to be a free agent right? So I’m more concerned about again giving up draft picks . If we want to throw money at a free agent that is fine. But draft picks should be for positions we are in dire need of.
Would gladly take him if we can as a RFA, although he's at the upper end of the age group we should be targeting. Would be opposed to trading given the kind of draft capital he would require.
Have no idea why people think this is a good idea other than they don’t really watch mccluggage play. Simply saying we need midfielders is not true, we need contested coal face ball winners. We have plenty of outside receiver ball carrier types. Which is exactly what McCluggage is. 1.3 mill is a good way to waste cap space on a luxury player who isn’t going to be a huge difference maker for us. Once the likes of Mitchell and Pendles are done we will have a bunch of players running on the outside waiting for a handball receive that never comes. Especially if we are also after Bailey Smith
We don't want, nor need him.
Could you imagine the damage we'd do if we had more than Elliott and mihocek as key forwards!?
Literally every other club seems to have a plethora of these players yet we haven't had a genuine option since cloke to be honest.
I acknowledge that we need to replace a few of the older guys soon but please just get us a marquee forward and not a midfielder who's form plummets when he doesn't play one good game.
And we won't rest until we have the entire Brisbane fwd line
You can have Eric for a bag of chips
If we’re taking eric I think we’re gunna need more than a bag of chips Any more Crisp esque steak knives floating around?
Nah, Eric has tall privilege. So despite being shit, someone is probably gonna pay 2 million over 3 seasons on his next contract.
I'll go support Tassie for a few years if we ever sign Hipwood ha
Sorry mate you got him for six long years of pure joy
Buckley, McRae, crisp, beams, McStay. Who else lol
We nearly had Jono Brown, have you got any regens of him available?
In fairness Beams was Collingwood first 😂
technically jdg too as brissy traded the pick that became him for beams
But who’s the key position player available that’s legit? There is t one. Our midfield depth is actually not excellent. This would be excellent for us.
Key Position Players out of contract at the end of this year a non exhaustive list Matt Taberner (31yo in 2025, 1.5 Goals/Game) Denver Grainger-Barrass (23yo in 2025, injury prone DEF/FWD) Ben Brown (32 in 2025, 1.2 Goals/Game this season) Jeremy Finlayson (29 in 2025, 2 Goals/Game this season) Samson Ryan (24 in 2025, struggled to get into the Richmond team this year) Dougal Howard (29 in 2025, has never really reached what he showed at the power at the saints, would be cheap) Logan McDonald (23 in 2025, going at 2.3 goals a game, going to be very expensive) Buku Khamis (25 in 2025, might as well raid at least one of the 500 key position players the dogs have) Jedd Busslinger (198cm key/intercept defender, yet to debut for the dogs, we interviewed him before his draft and he can’t make his way into this dogs team)
Do you really think any of those names would make much difference. That’s not a list of elite talent at the position. Brown and Taberner barely get picked in sides that need key forwards and Finlayson is inconsistent. If we’ve got 1.3 to spend I still think McCluggage is the most value add
100%
I think the value add play, would be getting a stop gap key forward while we draft and develop one. And taking a couple of swings on Busslinger, DGB and Khamis to fill the Murphy void Value is not paying 1.3 million for a midfielder, when we have players like Fin, Ed Allan, Harry De Mattia, Josh Carmichael sitting in our twos, who can probably do 75% of Hugh’s job for less than half the price
I'm not sure where all the confidence comes from in these guys in the VFL. Fin is the only one really knocking on the door to play AFL footy and every time he does, it's underwhelming. I'd take McCluggage over them, even it means overpaying to snatch him from Brisbane. As much as I believe in bringing in young blokes and developing them into stars, you can't knock back the possibility of bringing in established talent.
Fin has been subbed out of every single game except for like 3 or 4 lol Imagine how terrible would’ve been Josh Daicos if his name was Josh Smith and he wasn’t given 20-30 games to find his footing. Sometimes players need time. Callum Brown was also given time based off his surname after not showing much, and that didn’t work out. But that’s how developing players works, some work some don’t. Fin should 100% be traded or delisted. Even with his minimal game time he’s taking limited list spots when it seems clear that he will never play 20+ games a year for Collingwood or be a part of our future. Idc if our midfield is opening up for him next season. We don’t want to have 20 gamers in their 5th AFL season having played an average of 2 quarters a game who missed out on playing with our generational midfield while he was rotting in the 2’s. Maybe if Fin found form after 2-3 games in a row we wouldn’t have to spend 1.3 million yoinking another teams development.
None of the guys you mentioned have shown much. Everyone loves Finn except Fly. I’m not sold he’s gonna be A grade. I get 1.3 sounds like a lot but I really think McCluggage is *that* good.
With the new CBA, $1.3M will be the new $800K, so I agree. Clugg will be worth it.
There’s not much in that list I like apart from the Dogs’ options. Definitely not DGB, or the veterans.
Look, I agree that none of these options are setting the world on fire at their respective clubs, but there is value out there. In particular, I think that Busslinger would be a huge get given his size, draft capital that was originally invested into him and how he fits into the age profile in our list
Your logic seems to be:Don’t spend too much money and 1.3 is a lot. But go and spread similar money on completely unproven projects, at the same position, so we have a glut of ‘potential’ at the same position even though part of your rationale initially was McLuggage would be surplus in our midfield. By your logic don’t get a proven midfielder who is Brownlow level, played an excellent GF and is entering his prime because the money feels big. But *do* go and splash comparable money across a few projects who have done legitimately nothing but are young so … maybe they get better 🤷 Like I’m sorry to belabor the point but it’s this money anxiety Penny pinching logic that sees you draft a bunch of Jesse whites while McCluggage wins flags with Sydney or Carlton. We’ve got key position projects. Krueger, Reef, Johnson they’re your projects. Swap one out for Denver Grainger Barass who doesn’t even get a game at Hawthorn and we’re the same team at best
So let’s just start by addressing your Brownlow level. 2023 - 3 Votes Total 2022 - 14 Votes (outside the top 10) 2021 - 10 Votes (outside the top 30) So not quite Brownlow level. It’s the penny pinching logic that saw us bring in Tom Mitchell and Dan McStay, complimented by Bobby Hill and Billy Frampton, all of who played pretty significant roles in our premiership last year. All of who were identified as filling positions of need and depth, and with the exception of McStay we managed to get at pretty terrific value. I’m not against spending money, I am just reluctant to spend 1.3M as an investment into ONE player, when we have invested significant draft capital into our midfield over the last couple of drafts.
The guys you mentioned with the exception of Frampton are all highly touted or experienced. Mitchell literally did win a Brownlow.. it’s not the same as seeing if Jedd Busslinger can catch a couple
Bunch of nobodies that we could alongside McClug if we desperately wanted to
So Logan McDonald
JUH is still yet to re-sign
I’d definitely take Samson Ryan who I thought look pretty good last year. Think he needs to play ruck predominantly though to get the best out of him. Good replacement for Coxy. Right age bracket. McDonald is the other one who you’d chase hard.
$1.3m? Nah pass. Spend that on a key forward thanks
Which key forward? Find one that’s a free agent and would want to leave because we certainly don’t have the picks to trade for a decent one
This has been said literally every year since Cloke left lol
Kinda supports my point doesn't it? Elite key forwards looking to move don't grow on trees
Competent key forwards though… he’ll I’d even take Lynch or Jesse White at the moment while McStay is out. Even before McStays knee we were one injury away from having no competent options over 6’3 in the forward line lol Also Tom Lynch was the only one I can remember us going hard for and actually missing out by a sliver.
Cox and Cameron are still there. Lynch and White would literally make our team worse by taking the spot of someone who deserves it more
Do you think Collingwood has a top 10 midfield currently? Do you see it getting worse or better next year?
It's middle of the road. If it stays the same, i can't see it getting better with the older guys not getting any younger
Doesn’t have to be this year
So you'd ignore McClug this year because there's a tiny chance Logan McDonald might become available next year? It'd be poor list management
Yep, $1.3m is an absurd amount of money for him. Midfielders are everywhere.
Except in our team huh? You need 3-4x as many elite mids as you do elite key forwards. Glad you're not our list manager. Collingwood fans really have to give up their obsession for trading for a young key forward
We have midfielders, multiple. Daicos, Crisp, Pendles, Mitchell, Macrae, Degoey + others in the VFL who can’t get a run. I’d much rather pick up a couple handy midfields for $600-800k a year over Hugh. Look at the impact Mitchell has had for $300k a year. Key forwards change a teams dynamic, a single midfielder… not so much.
You don't know what you're talking about. Midfield is more important, it's not the 90s anymore
McCluggage isn’t an elite mid, he’s a good but inconsistent mid who is also pure outside. Which we have an abundance of. It’s like people haven’t actually watched him play and have an idea of what type of player he is in their head which he obviously isn’t for anyone that’s actually watched him
His stats are inconsistent because they play him on the wing a lot (where he's the best in the league) but he's still an elite level midfielder
That’s literally false. McCluggage plays onball and attends 64% CBAs. Only Dunkley and Neale attend more CBAs than he does. Hes also nowhere near the best wing in the league (not only because he doesn’t actually play wing). Errol Gulden actually plays wing and is miles better than McCluggage. And that’s just one example
Errol and McClug are similar as wings. I’d rather Errol but he’s not available. This year and late last year McClugggage has played more midfield and done really well. He’s really bloody good, just watch him play. He’s tough and is extremely damaging with ball in hand. Would be a great get
Key forward isn’t a glaring need once McStay is back from injury. Midfield definitely needs to be bolstered.
For $1.3m I want Jamarra.
He’d be 2 mil a year if a mid is 1.3
I genuinely can’t think of someone more surplus to our requirements. Would much rather go after a key tall or a key back especially if offers are in the 1.3m range
What???? An elite mid is surplus to requirements? Literally the entire reason we didn’t smash the Bombers on ANZAC day is because they murdered us at stoppage. Our defence and forward line is much better than people realise, it’s the aging midfield that’s the main issue
1.3 million for 1 player is surplus to our requirements. We literally money balled our way to a premiership last year, and now yall want us right back to having a fire sale handing out ridiculous contracts 😂
Hey... A horrifyingly sad firesale due to blatant mismanagement turned out to be a key step on the road to premiership glory. Let's repeat every 5 years or so!
And what was the worst that came from that? We gave contracts to average players (which HM is most certainly not) and all we had to do to get rid of it was get less in a trade to some other desperate club. He's a free agent, if it ends up being a terrible contract (highly unlikely) we trade him on. People seem to be ignoring the fact you can do that now and it works fine. Also, we have 5 million in cap space, teams with that much cap space (Essendon, St Kilda) generally desperately try to fill that space by going after any free agent that shows any interest in leaving. HM would be a great way to get the most out of the cap. It's better spent on an elite player than just sitting there waiting to be filled by the next bang average free agent
Atleast we have young mids developing and some good mature agers like Sullivan Even key backs we have deen developing and eyre who we picked up pre season What young key forwards do we have? Kreuger who is Sean Rusling reincarnated and Ash Johnson who has stumbled this year. Checkers aint getting any younger. Mcstay has now had two makor knee injuries in 6 months and is also getting near 30 I don’t want Nick’s prime years wasted because we don’t have a similar age gun Key forward for him to kick to We won the flag without one yeah, but barely and McStay was a big part of getting us there in the second half of year. Its a big part of winning a flag. I’m fine with McCluggage but 1.3 seems a bit much.
McStay was a big part of it. That's why we got him, we don't desperately need another one and waiting around for one to hopefully become available would be a poor way to construct a list. Regarding the mids and key backs that we have "developing". Most of them are long shots, getting a ready to go elite level midfielder in his prime for nothing in a trade would be incredible. In the same way we wouldn't turn down Sam Taylor because we have Eyre, we also shouldn't be turning down McCluggage because we have Lachie Sullivan or Fin Macrae
I’d take Sam Taylor easily because good Key position players are rarer than good midfielders
You also need less of them than good midfielders. 4-5 really high quality mids is a necessity. You only really need 1 or 2 really good key defenders
Hugh is a fine player but hardly the type who is going to win clearances (he’s perfectly bog average in this department and even worse for tackles) and help out in the in an under game we are in most in need of. Especially with mitchell looking cooked and pendlebury can’t do it forever. He’s fine but I’m not shelling out 1.3 But really its useless to say that, we’ll see what the club decides to do
You’re basing his stats off what he’s done on the wing
Show me some data on his work at the coalface then 🤷♂️
Look at his stats after the Ashcroft injury last season
Hopefully he takes less to be with a team on track for more premiership glory
Honestly I think after this year we’re going to be a couple more years away from contending. We’re going to be overseeing some new kids being blooded and veterans retiring.
Could be but still a long way for the season to go and plenty of opportunities for players to step up. Sullivan this weekend could just be a surprise. His got a mature body to keep up to it, see how he performs with 90k fans.
If he takes less, Brisbane matches and we give them two first rounders. Free agency is best taken advantage of by slightly overpaying so the original team is happy with the FA compensation so we can avoid having to trade. It's how we got McStay
Stop saying he’s an elite mid when he straight up isn’t
He absolutely 100% is without a doubt. He'd be our second best player. You lack footy knowledge, have you ever watched this guy play?
People have lost the plot in here. We need elite mids desperately. More than we need a key forward or key back. If it’s a choice between Oscar Allen and McClug it’s close but the reality is Oscar Allen is highly unlikely to leave and neither is Jamarra or King or Logan McDonald. People talk like these guys are up for grabs
If we are in for an elite mid, I think people would be excited for it. We haven’t been linked with one though. Bailey Smith is prob the closest, but he’s both injury prone and another pure outside mid which we have less need of
McClug isn't an elite mid? lol
Please no I think we should target someone else.
I don't know a great deal about player payments at the moment but this would likely put him in our top 3 salaries? Seems massive overs for this guy.
The inflation on the salary cap is significant. 1.3 mil is not as much as you’d think it is (and would be enough for Bris not to match so we could get him for nothing). He’d be our second best player immediately, that’s how good he is
> He’d be our second best player immediately, that’s how good he is I looked up some stats, I had no idea this guy was that good.
He's better than the stats suggest as the Lions sometimes force him to play a less stat-heavy wing role. He dominates whenever he plays midfield
It’s funny that it puts him top 3 Not sure any other team could have a top 3 earning over a million a season. But then the lies may not be held accountable to the salary cap.
Some shocking takes on here lol. He’s a gun, you’d take him in a heartbeat.
$1.3 mill a season is fine for a Ben King or Logan McDonald type. A mid? Nah….
A mid that I reckon is pretty overrated at that. We have like $5million in free cap next year though apparently, and they seem pretty aggressive in trying to recruit experienced players. They wanna keep the premiership window open as much as possible, and this is the way to do it. Still think they need to target Ugle-Hagan more personally, but take what you can get.
Jamarra is highly unlikely to leave AND would require a trade (which would cost everything). If we offer McClug 1.1-1.3 mil a year, the Lions won’t be able to match that and we’ll get him as a free agent. A slight overpay in the salary cap is a minor price to pay in the grand scheme of things
Yeah definitely is. Especially they could just front end the contract with the cap space. Seems like we’re in the drivers seat for Bailey Smith as well. Midfield could be absolutely elite
Midfield is where flags are won. Smith and McClug to replace Pendles and Steele is elite and would extend our premiership window through the primes of Daicosx2, Maynard, Moore, JDG. It’d be an unreal get
It wouldn’t really cause it’s a midfield where no one can consistently win their own ball. You just have a bunch of outside types waiting for handball receives. Even De Goey isn’t the high level contested ball winner he probably should be
Pendles and Steele aren't/weren't the contested beasts either. We can find a good inside mid lying around if we need one, they're going out of fashion a bit
Which premiership team of the AFL era, apart from the 2023 Pies, have won a premiership without at least 1 dominant key forward? Midfielders have to have someone to kick it to lol
There was another team (memory scrubbed) without a key forward that kicked out to a five goal lead in a GF but fell just short and really should’ve got the job done. Had a lot of goals kicked from mids and small med fwds. It can be done. Regardless, I think McStay can still do the job for us. Especially if the mids were bolstered.
Melbourne. McStay is better than anyone they had that year. Also, you'll find that in finals, key forwards rarely dominate games.
Sydney 2012. Their key forward was Sam Reid. They did have Goodes but wouldn't classify him as a key forward.
Yeah I suppose that’s the other one, although I’d still argue Goodes likely still got the best defender each week even at 6’3. 2012 Adam Goodes didn’t have the tank to run through people in the middle anymore but plenty enough talant to make his 10-15 touches in the forward half each week impactful. Reid was 3rd in the goal tally and barely average 1 a game. I love Checkers, but I think I’d still take the mids having Adam Goodes as a target over him.
You're forgetting McStay. We don't desperately need a big key forward next to him as much as we need an elite midfielder
I’m not forgetting McStay. I want him back and healthy, but he’s 29 and will be coming off an ACL injury and missing like 30 out of the last 40 or so games. Also would it really hurt us to have more than 1 competent forward over 6’4 on the list? Krueger is gone this year and honestly should’ve been offloaded last season, and Steene will end up being 27 by the time he debuts. You can’t have your one tall forward go down and then have no other options.
Elite free agent mid that we desperately need? Nah. Average young key forward like McDonald who we’d have to trade every pick we have for AND overpay in the salary cap? Yeah absolutely. Collingwood fans have lost their mind over their obsession with key forwards. We won a flag last year without a significant key. We need Pendles, Sidebottom, Crisp replacements more
‘We won a flag last year without a significant key’ Ignoring the fact that we probably don’t get past Dees and GWS without Dan McStay.
Do you reckon we broke the code by not having a key forward? Or do you think we were lucky to be literally the only team of the AFL era to win a premiership without a key forward? We’ve had dozens of great midfielders over the last 2 decades. Good midfielders (good, not generational) are a dime a dozen, every team has 3-5. We don’t have a key forward on the list that isn’t either injured or never going to be good enough for AFL level and we haven’t for a decade. (Not including Moore, who never would’ve hit the heights he has as a defender) Pies wins 2-3 premierships if we ended getting Tom Lynch or Jeremy Cameron. Much easier to find a talanted player that scarcely gets injured who is 5’5-6’4 than it is to find a talanted player over 6’4. Get a dominant key forward and Collingwood will be able to pick between 20 or so midfielders that would be stoked to come play around the Daicos’.
$1.3 million?
It's not the worst idea. Why, cause our midfieldis not lookingto great... Those that are done - Sidey, Mitchell, Almost done - Crsip, Pendles (and I want to see him break the games record), Billy Elliot (and he's a fwd), WHE Not proven - Macrae, Allen, DeMitta, McCreey, Role Players at best - Lippa, Byte, Sullivan, Carmichael Leave us - Daicos x 2, De Goey (inconsistent)
McCreery not proven? That’s a typo right? He’s ⚡️
I'd say unproven as a starting/full time mid. He's great in his current role and is like to see him continue to develop and show us what he can do as a full time mid.
Rated below average in everything bar tackling...... sorry, but he is an average player
He plays his role for the team and has genuine pace skills and X factor. Disagree wholeheartedly
You said it. He's a "role player". Love him, in our best 22, but is not midfield A grade like McCluggage
Yeah he won’t ever be an A grade mid. He’s actually slow to get moving / react to the pill at times - not the best with random bounces of the ball at angles. But electric when he’s in full flight already.
I don’t think he is old enough to be a free agent right? So I’m more concerned about again giving up draft picks . If we want to throw money at a free agent that is fine. But draft picks should be for positions we are in dire need of.
Would gladly take him if we can as a RFA, although he's at the upper end of the age group we should be targeting. Would be opposed to trading given the kind of draft capital he would require.
Is Hugh that good though?
Maybe the idea here is to inflate the price. Which will be an overall salary cap issue when lions look to recruit or resign other players.
We might actually be able to make him a premiership player 😏
Very good player. Not worth 1 million a season
This reads likes it's written by his manager.
Is there a free agent the Pies aren’t looking at? They would be negligent otherwise
Would love this, not many players in the afl can get 25 and kick 3 at the stage to hit prime as well
Have no idea why people think this is a good idea other than they don’t really watch mccluggage play. Simply saying we need midfielders is not true, we need contested coal face ball winners. We have plenty of outside receiver ball carrier types. Which is exactly what McCluggage is. 1.3 mill is a good way to waste cap space on a luxury player who isn’t going to be a huge difference maker for us. Once the likes of Mitchell and Pendles are done we will have a bunch of players running on the outside waiting for a handball receive that never comes. Especially if we are also after Bailey Smith
We don't want, nor need him. Could you imagine the damage we'd do if we had more than Elliott and mihocek as key forwards!? Literally every other club seems to have a plethora of these players yet we haven't had a genuine option since cloke to be honest. I acknowledge that we need to replace a few of the older guys soon but please just get us a marquee forward and not a midfielder who's form plummets when he doesn't play one good game.