COLLINGWOOD will target another top pick early in this year's NAB AFL Draft as the Magpies remain bullish about the 2020 crop.
The Magpies currently hold their first-round pick for this year's intake and a second-round selection tied to Richmond's finishing position. They traded out their own second-round selection last year.
But the club's recruiting manager Derek Hine said the Magpies would search for ways to add another high pick to their draft hand.
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"I think all clubs would like to explore that. I think the first 30 or so players pretty much stand up for themselves and if you can get anywhere inside that I think you'd be well served," he told the Road to the Draft podcast.
"The more opportunities that present themselves the clubs are going to take them. A lot of it is with the NGA (Next Generation Academy) and Academy boys, history tells us those clubs have tried to trade out, so whether that creates an opportunity in itself. We'd certainly like to get into the draft and how that looks will be determined in time."
Hine said given the high number of Academy and father-son prospects in this year's draft pool already tied to clubs meant rivals could target their higher selections so they could trade back down the draft but for multiple picks.
This would secure them more points under the Draft Value Index to pay for highly rated players, such as the Western Bulldogs with potential No.1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
"It's like any pick – you look at whatever levers you've got. And then you assess and away you go," he said.
"Potentially the Bulldogs may be looking at doing something not dissimilar with Jamarra. At this point in time they're picking [after pick nine] depending where they finish clearly, but I would imagine that's not going to be enough [points] to bring him in so they may look at the opportunity to get into next year's draft by trading that pick out."
The Magpies are in a strong position to know how their draft hand looks next year, too, regardless of their finishing position with first call on highly rated father-son prospect Nick Daicos. Recruiters view the younger Daicos brother as one of the best players in the 2021 group.
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Meanwhile, the club remains confident that it will re-sign star duo Jordan De Goey and Darcy Moore. The pair remain without deals beyond this season, but Hine said the club's list manager Ned Guy was working through the negotiations.
"Ned's handling all those things, but my understanding is everything's going along really well," Hine said.
"Clearly they're two outstanding talents, they certainly underpin what we're wanting to do as a club, so I don't envisage any problems at this stage. But we're in the pointy end of the season and those discussions are ongoing, just that I'm not involved in them."
