COLLINGWOOD faces going into a draft points deficit this year after trading out its first pick last season and with a very early bid on father-son Nick Daicos looming.

The Magpies swapped their future first-round selection to Greater Western Sydney in a live draft trade last season in exchange for picks 24, 30 and a 2021 fourth-round pick.

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The club made the move because their first selection was expected to be swallowed up by matching a bid on Daicos, who has exploded into the 2021 draft season with a series of best-on-ground performances while the Magpies start their campaign 1-5. The move also allowed Collingwood to make a bigger imprint on last year's draft, where it used four top-30 selections.

On this year's indicative draft order the Pies' selection – now in the hands of the Giants – currently sits at No.2 overall. The Magpies also traded out their round two pick to Hawthorn but got one back from the Western Bulldogs, meaning at this stage their first selection at the draft is No.37. 

The Pies currently hold four picks – No.37, 39, 47 and 50 – which are worth points in the draft value index used to match bids on Academy and father-son players. It gives them a total of 1518 draft points.

Under the bidding system, if a club places a bid on Daicos – the son of Collingwood legend Peter and brother of emerging midfielder Josh – at No.1, the Pies would need to find 2400 points to match it and make him a Magpie after the 20 per cent discount is applied.

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If the bid comes at pick No.2, they would need to tally 2014 points after the discount. The Magpies could look to bring in more picks (for points) during this year's exchange period and again have deals set up for draft night if they require more points, or they could match with fewer points and then go into points deficit to take Daicos, who is widely being viewed as the best player in the 2021 crop.

A points deficit on a first-round pick would mean their first pick for 2022 is pushed back enough spots under the value index to the value of the leftover points. This happened last year, when Fremantle went into a 245-point deficit in 2019 for matching a bid on NGA player Liam Henry.

It meant their first-round pick for the following season (2020) slid back several spots to make up the deficit points. 

The points situation does not put into jeopardy Collingwood's capacity to draft Daicos, with the classy midfielder destined to continue his family's history at the club. It just means that if the Magpies don't bring in extra points for Daicos this year, then their first pick next year will be impacted.  

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The AFL looked set to slash the discount after starting a review on it at the end of 2019 but the COVID-19 changes to the game last season, plus the overall winding back of the Next Generation Academy, saw those plans put off.

Daicos started the NAB League season with three best-on-ground games, averaging 30 disposals and booting eight goals, before being the NAB AFL Academy's best player in its defeat to Geelong's VFL side on Saturday with 26 disposals.

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