Is talk around the state of Collingwood’s list overblown?

Magpies coach Craig McRae hit back at scrutiny of the club’s list — the most experienced list in the competition with 10 players aged 30-plus — saying it’s “over-examined” and criticism is driven by “clicks.”

Collingwood fielded the oldest team in Round 15 in its win over Port Adelaide with an average age of 27.8, despite missing veterans Scott Pendlebury (38), Jamie Elliott (33), Darcy Moore (30) and Brayden Maynard (29).

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And the club is still looking to double down on its ‘win now’ strategy as a keen suitor for Lachie Neale, who turns 34 next year, along with links to Zak Butters and Jed Walter.

No doubt there’s an added spotlight on Collingwood because it’s Collingwood.

But triple-premiership Lion Jonathan Brown says the 11th-placed club’s drop off since its 2023 premiership run is the “the reason we’re talking about them” and why they’re “under the microscope”.

“They’ve got 10 players, and If Lachie Neale came, 11 players over the age of 30. Some of them have carried injury history… it is a concern,” Brown said on Fox Footy’s On the Couch.

“And the fact of the matter is, Collingwood hasn’t been good enough at identifying talent through the draft since 2018.

“They haven’t been good enough at picking younger talent.

“And that’s going to ultimately sustain the club going forward. Not keep getting older players or VFL players in.”

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Hawthorn legend Jordan Lewis also suggested the discrepancy between Collingwood’s age profile ranking and ladder position also raises questions.

“If you’re not competing and consistently top four with the oldest list in the league, it’s out of whack. It just is,” he said.

“Who wants to sit at 11th as the oldest side in the league?”

There’s already been a transition of the list with the departures of premiership-winning veterans Brody Mihocek, Tom Mitchell, Mason Cox, Will Hoskin-Elliott and Oleg Markov last off-season.

Along with Collingwood giving greater senior opportunities to the likes of Oscar Steene, prior to his ACL injury, Ed Allan and Will Hayes, while the club’s four AFL debutants so far in 2026 is already more than it had in 2023 (two) and 2025 (three).

You sense Reef McInnes also would’ve been in their plans, if not for the 23-year old’s cruel second ACL setback.

Though we’re still yet to see former first-round pick Harry Demattia and defender Joel Cochran at AFL level, while the likes of Jakob Ryan and Tew Jiath haven’t featured since 2023 and 2024 respectively.

There’s rightfully questions of the quality of that youth.

But Geelong champion Tom Hawkins thinks those young players need to be given a chance to show their worth.

“I think they have the young players on their list. I look at Cochran, Sam Swadling played his first game, Jiath. They’ve got some players there, but they haven’t been exposed for long enough,” he said.

“We don’t know if they’re A-graders, you might just find one of these guys.

“Swadling was Pick 37 in the 2025 Draft. If he gets 10 to 15 games under his belt, what sort of player can he be?

“I lived it back in 2015 when (Geelong) had an ageing list. Regardless of how you’re going on field, you need to start making decisions to eventually move some of those older players on.

“So, does a tough call happen on Scott Pendlebury? Is it Steele Sidebottom probably playing in his last season?

“Then you look at Jack Crisp, Tim Membrey, and Darcy Moore, who’s a champion player, but has been vulnerable to injury.

“No doubt they’ve got a plan but it just seems, externally, it’s a hard plan to follow.”

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Asked by Brown if “two or three” veterans need to be moved on at season’s end “no matter what”, Hawkins said: “I would think so, yeah. Then you expose yourself back to the draft.

“But you’ve got to continue to play these young guys underneath.”

Of those veterans, only Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Jeremy Howe and Membrey are due to come out of contract.

And Hawkins thinks this could ultimately be Pendlebury’s final season in a year the 435-gamer broke the AFL all-time games record and has been frequently managed.

“At some stage, you’ve got to transition the list,” the triple-premiership Cat added.

“You’ve got exit these players at some point in time, that’s inevitable. There just has to be a plan.

“(Pendlebury is a) Champion player. But seriously, they’ll be having the conversation. A hard call needs to happen. I can see it being his last year.”

Tigers great Jack Riewoldt believes the starpower of Nick Daicos is key to why the club is keen to keep topping up around the Brownlow Medal favourite.

“We’ve entered into prime Nick Daicos time. How much is it (about) putting pieces around him in his absolute prime? Which could go for eight to years or longer,” Riewoldt said.

“Putting pieces around him to, not keep him happy, but make sure a side that has Nick Daicos in it doesn’t bottom out.

“That’s what it looks like to me. They want to stay up, they want to go and get Lachie Neale, they’re looking for that running mate for Nick Daicos.

“He’s the best player in the competition on his day. They don’t want to lose two to three years rebuilding again.”