Collingwood’s recruiting department will head into Thursday night’s draft with an open mind and an understanding that the bulk of their work has been accomplished.
The Magpies will take just two picks (50 and 65) into the national draft with the final selection reserved for pre-listed tall project Jarrod Witts.
National recruiting manager Derek Hine and his team believe the club’s two selections will derive from a list of 15 potential candidates.
“We will go into this draft with 63 names and we will cross them off as we go,” Hine told CTV before he departed to Sydney, the location of the 2011 national draft.
“We will keep an eye towards needs but we won’t be silly about it. (For example) if there is a taller player who we rate, we will potentially take the taller player.
“Although we have 63 players on our list we feel we have bracketed 15 players who we are very confident our two picks will come out of.”
Hine believes the pre-draft list movement undergone by the Magpies has placed Collingwood ahead of the other clubs that are planning on acquiring a host of players on Thursday night.
The work already conducted by Hine's team includes the return of Mary Clarke, the elevation of Jarrod Witts and Michael Hartley and the additions of Jamie Elliott, Peter Yagmoor and Caolan Mooney.
“The bonus with bringing in those players already, is that they are already training with the club. Three or four of them have even gone across to Arizona.
“In a sense we have had a sixth month jump on other clubs (because of) this training block they have been able to get in prior to the national draft.”
The six new additions include a healthy range of players from a small forward to a tall ruckman.
“Even if you look at those half a dozen players there is a really nice spread in terms of player types.
“In a lot of respects we can go into the draft with an open mind. Given the fact that we are pegging back, I think we will just be picking the best player.”
Stay tuned to collingwoodfc.com.au on Thursday night to find out which two names Derek Hine reads out.
