Collingwood veteran Scott Pendlebury has no issues with his side’s general neglect of the draft over the last few years, despite boasting the oldest list in the competition by some margin.
The Magpies won the premiership in 2023 and have been in the hunt the last few years, attempting to become the oldest squad in V/AFL history to win a flag.
They currently boast 10 players on their list over the age of 30, including the 38-year-old Pendlebury, with another two players set to join that group by the end of the year.
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Scott Pendlebury and Dan Houston of Collingwood. Â AFL Photos via Getty Images
The general concern for the Pies is whether their list is good enough to remain in contention without Pendlebury, Jeremy Howe (35), Steele Sidebottom (35), Jamie Elliott (33) and Jack Crisp (32); while Tim Membrey (31), Dan McStay (30), Darcy Cameron (30), Darcy Moore (30) and Jordan de Goey (30) are all still key contributors.
Couple that with the fact that the only top 15 draft pick they’ve used since 2020 was to bring Nick Daicos through the doors in 2021, and their age profile becomes somewhat concerning long term.
Pendlebury however holds no fears about the club’s prospects beyond this generation, saying deep rebuilds and hitting the draft hard isn’t necessarily the only way to keep your list in the mix.
“We haven’t really gone to the draft very much have we in the last few years, so, yeah, I think we’re in a window where we think we can win and challenge,” Pendlebury told 3AW before the GWS clash.
“We won a premiership a couple of years ago, played in the prelim, so that’s probably a fair assessment (that we haven’t used many first round picks).
“I don’t think there’s great evidence that going backwards, the rebuild path gets you to where you want to go really quickly.
Steele Sidebottom and Scott Pendlebury of the Magpies. Getty
“I think if you have a look at the sides that have done it, they’d probably still argue they’re in the rebuilding phase seven or eight years later.
“I think one of the benefits of being Collingwood in my time being here is that you always attract free agents, you always attract really good players.
“So, sometimes the draft you don’t need because someone is going to lob in your lap who you don’t really expect through their managers where they want to come and play for Collingwood because we get big timeslots, big games, you play in front of 90,000 every week.”
Collingwood once again did not have a pick in the top 30 of the 2025 draft. Their coach Craig McRae has consistently stated that his preference is to use draft picks to bring in ready-made players.
They traded their 2024 first round pick for Fremantle small forward Lachie Schultz, and their 2025 first for Port Adelaide defender Dan Houston.
The Pies used pick 19 on midfielder Ed Allan in 2022, who is still finding his feet at the level, and pick 25 in Harry Demattia in 2023, who is yet to debut.
Players selected by Collingwood in the national draft between 2022 and 2025 have combined for a total of 31 games for the club – 17 of those have come from Allan.
By comparison, in the same time span, St Kilda has gotten 207 games out of their draftees.