COLLINGWOOD caught the trade bug on Wednesday night as it executed a frenzy of deals that now have it positioned for a father-son bargain at next year's NAB AFL Draft.
The Magpies finished Wednesday night's draft with six new players, including five selected in the top 31, after trading several future selections, including their first-round pick next year.
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It was a bold plan executed under the pressure of draft night, and it should help the Magpies sell hope after a Trade Period that saw Adam Treloar and Jaidyn Stephenson leave.
Central to the trade chaos was highly touted forward Nick Daicos, who is tied to the Magpies as a father-son selection and likely to draw an opposition bid early in next year's draft.
It therefore made sense for the Collingwood to trade its early future selections and position itself to match a bid on Daicos next year with points derived from later picks.
National recruiting manager Derek Hine said the club would still be in a position to match a first-round bid next year.
TRADE TRACKER All the deals as they dropped
"If a bid came for a player, for example Nick Daicos, depending if he was a first-round pick, we've got the points to cover him. So that's really pleasing," Hine told the club's website.
Hine said the rush of trading activity had seen the Magpies exceed a goal of four picks inside the top 40.
Adelaide's decision not to bid on Next Generation Academy player Reef McInnes at pick No.11 opened a number of trade possibilities.
"We had two plans – pre-Reef and post-Reef," Hine said.
"We were really concerned that a bid might come initially with Essendon, and then Adelaide had indicated they had a strong interest as well.
"Once Adelaide didn't bid on reef the draft really opened up for us … that allowed us to attack hard in a trading sense … we were able to move to our needs.
"We wrote up on the board that if we could achieve four inside 40 that would be great."
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The Magpies entered Wednesday night's draft with picks 14, 16, 65 and 66, but they got to work quickly, negotiating their first trade of the night with Hawthorn and giving up their future second-round pick for two selections in the 40s.
They then sent their future first-round pick to Greater Western Sydney in exchange for picks 24, 30 and a future fourth-round selection.
Now armed with assets, they dealt with Adelaide, Fremantle (twice) and Port Adelaide to move around the order and restock with some future selections along the way.
In all, the Magpies completed six trades on draft night and, assuming they used their selections wisely, went some way to recovering the talent lost during a dramatic Trade Period.
Collingwood selected Geelong Falcons forward Oliver Henry (No.17) and Oakleigh Chargers midfielder Finlay Macrae (No.19) with its first two picks.
They gladly matched Greater Western Sydney's bid on McInnes at No.23, giving them three first-round selections.
In the second round, the Magpies' trading had landed them back-to-back selections at 30 and 31, which they used to select South Australian midfielder Caleb Poulter and Northern Knights key forward Liam McMahon.
They exited the draft with their final selection at No.44, secured from Port Adelaide, picking South Australian forward Beau McCreery.
The Magpies already held the Bulldogs' future second-round selection, and they added two future third-round picks to help pay for Daicos next year.
