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PIES TO RIDE SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY \u2018ALL THE WAY HOME\u2019<\/p>\n
Collingwood\u2019s recent \u2018hits\u2019 with mature-age recruits have the club \u201cscouring the state leagues again\u201d, according to CODE Sports reporter Jon Ralph.<\/p>\n
A key part of the Magpies\u2019 recent resurgence, which has them in a good spot to make the wildcard round this year, has been the emergence of their bargain buys.<\/p>\n
While Ned Long (2024 mid-season draft) had already emerged, the Pies this year have also unveiled the likes of Roan Steele (2025 mid-season draft) and Charlie West (Pick 50, 2024). They\u2019ve also enjoyed early success with recent draftees, including Angus Anderson (Pick 57, 2025), Liam Puncher (2026 mid-season draft) and Mitch Podhajski (2026 mid-season draft).<\/p>\n
That list also excludes Oscar Steene (SSP 2022), who made an outstanding start to his 2026 AFL campaign before rupturing his ACL.<\/p>\n
The promising signs from the Magpies\u2019 recruits have them eyeing mature-age talent again, according to Ralph.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re on a good thing you stick to it,\u201d Ralph told Fox Footy\u2019s Midweek Tackle on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
McRae emotional over Hill exit talks | 00:34<\/p>\n
\u201cCollingwood has reaped amazing rewards, not only from the last two mid-season drafts, but also from the last national drafts.<\/p>\n
\u201cShane O\u2019Bree came on at the start of last season (as recruiting manager) and, with (list boss) Justin Leppitsch, they\u2019ve formed a really good team that\u2019s getting some great results from the draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re scouring the state leagues again \u2013 in particular the SANFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the plan for them: You take your early picks \u2013 we\u2019ve heard a lot about them talking those early picks \u2013 you bring in Lachie Neale as a free agent \u2013 who doesn\u2019t cost them a selection \u2013 then you use those late picks on players like Angus Anderson.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally smart selections from Collingwood. We haven\u2019t always said that through their recent national draft picks, but they\u2019ve found a strategy that\u2019s worked out for them really well and they\u2019re going to ride it all the way home.\u201d <\/p>\n
YOUNG ROO TO SHUN HUGE TASSIE INTEREST<\/p>\n
North Melbourne young gun Finn O\u2019Sullivan is set to turn down a monster long-term offer from Tasmania, reports AFL Media\u2019s Cal Twomey.<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au\u2019s Will Faulkner reported in May the Devils would \u201clook to come hard\u201d for both O\u2019Sullivan and Richmond\u2019s Sam Lalor \u2013 the top two picks from the 2024 draft \u2013 as part of their recruiting plans.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Channel 9 on Tuesday night, Twomey said the Devils had been \u201cactively pursuing\u201d O\u2019Sullivan, but he\u2019d shown little interest in a Tassie move.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can reveal tonight he\u2019s close to re-signing a two-year deal at North Melbourne \u2026 that\u2019d take him through to 2029, which is past the Devils\u2019 window of access to out-of-contract players,\u201d Twomey told Footy Classified.<\/p>\n
Devils on the hunt for big stars | 03:53<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big update here is what he\u2019s turned down. My understanding is the Devils have made clear to Finn O\u2019Sullivan that across an eight-year deal worth up to $15 million, they\u2019d be willing to table that for the second-year Kangaroo \u2013 because he\u2019s the character they\u2019re trying to search for, he\u2019s the player they\u2019re trying to build a club around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey identified him and also Sam Lalor \u2013 they basically made the same offer to both of them, they\u2019re great mates. But the update is O\u2019Sullivan is set to stay. He hasn\u2019t been interested in it and hasn\u2019t even been interested to meet with the Devils.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the character glue-guy already at North Melbourne, so a big show of faith for the Roos.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019M KEEN\u2019: DANGER WANTS TO STAY<\/p>\n
Geelong skipper Patrick Dangerfield has declared he wants to continue his AFL career in 2027.<\/p>\n
A Brownlow Medallist, premiership Cat and eight-time All-Australian, Dangerfield has played 374 games across 19 seasons with Adelaide and Geelong, including 14 for the Cats this year.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 on Tuesday night, Dangerfield said he was eager to play on into a 20th season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty keen to play on,\u201d he said on AFL 360.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the best job in the world and you\u2019re a long-time retired, as plenty of former teammates will tell me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m keen to play on, but there\u2019s still a few things to tick off there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should he sign a new contract, Dangerfield would have the chance to reach the 400-game milestone next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An emerging Roos star is poised to reject a rival club\u2019s mega multimillion-dollar offer. Plus Collingwood\u2019s recruiting strategy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-815555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}