News Age interview with Matt Rendell

[Quicky]

Collingwood's 'stuff up' overlooking Cripps led to change

Decorated recruiter Matthew Rendell says the Pies "stuffed up'' by missing Carlton gun Patrick Cripps and it led to change.

www.google.com

I didn't realise we'd let Rendell go! Have we lost anyone else because of Covid?

Interesting comments regarding Cripps too. At least we learned from that one.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Just posted this article on Nicks Bulletin Board as well.

Fascinating comments by Rendell.

Describes the 2020 list as a top 4 list, and describes us as being "all over the place" in the lead up to the 2017 club review undertaken by Peter Murphy.

Certainly the closest admission you will find from an insider that we messed up by drafting Scharenberg and Freeman. I still believe we were super keen on Bontempelli but the Dogs took him at #4 before we had the chance to pounce.

The 2014 draft was a much improved one with the additions of De Goey, Moore and Maynard.

 

[manicpie]

Just posted this article on Nicks Bulletin Board as well.

Fascinating comments by Rendell.

Describes the 2020 list as a top 4 list, and describes us as being "all over the place" in the lead up to the 2017 club review undertaken by Peter Murphy.

Certainly the closest admission you will find from an insider that we messed up by drafting Scharenberg and Freeman. I still believe we were super keen on Bontempelli but the Dogs took him at #4 before we had the chance to pounce.

The 2014 draft was a much improved one with the additions of De Goey, Moore and Maynard.

I have no doubt we were all over the place in 2017, and the 2 or 3 years previous. I also have no doubt that we have a top 4 list

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

I have no doubt we were all over the place in 2017, and the 2 or 3 years previous. I also have no doubt that we have a top 4 list

Agree.

At least we're in a better place now.

 

[manicpie]

Agree.

At least we're in a better place now.

Much better, I honestly felt confident going into this season, I said we would smash the Dogs and we did and I was more than ready for Richmond, maybe a shortened season is just what we need to snag a flag.

 

[Markfs]

Football clubs will be a lot easier to run when time travel gets incorporated into drafting...

 

[Kappa]

Tbh we could do with some changes in recruiting, which we are now getting through a few different avenues

Desperately need some aboriginal talent and some KPF prospects.

You should join our recruiting team and focus on race as a key reason to draft someone

 

[jmac70]

Read like someone trying to stay relevant to me.

 

[Hairydawg]

Read like someone trying to stay relevant to me.

Agreed, JMac. And his main point didn’t make sense to me - sounds like an over correction. Does he mean Combine numbers are to be ignored? If so, then we might end up with lots of good citizens with glaring holes in ability.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

You should join our recruiting team and focus on race as a key reason to draft someone

Boggles the mind right. If some people had that view a few years ago, would've missed out on Stevo. Skinny, fast, skillful etc..

 

[loki04]

Agreed, JMac. And his main point didn’t make sense to me - sounds like an over correction. Does he mean Combine numbers are to be ignored? If so, then we might end up with lots of good citizens with glaring holes in ability.

He's saying that ability should come before endurance tests at 18 yo. Saying too much stock was put in the endurance and lack of confidence to rectify it. Endurance can be trained.

Degoey was considered another with no tank but a lot of ability...even now for a mid.

 

[loki04]

Boggles the mind right. If some people had that view a few years ago, would've missed out on Stevo. Skinny, fast, skillful etc..

How do you figure that?

Picking up a few high talent indigenous xfactor players later in draft or rookie draft would stop Stephenson at pick 6? E.g.. Sydney Stack
Yeah nah.

 

[TradeDraft]

Just posted this article on Nicks Bulletin Board as well.

Fascinating comments by Rendell.

Describes the 2020 list as a top 4 list, and describes us as being "all over the place" in the lead up to the 2017 club review undertaken by Peter Murphy.

Certainly the closest admission you will find from an insider that we messed up by drafting Scharenberg and Freeman. I still believe we were super keen on Bontempelli but the Dogs took him at #4 before we had the chance to pounce.

The 2014 draft was a much improved one with the additions of De Goey, Moore and Maynard.

I Don't think we Missed on Freeman and Scharnberg but they had no luck with Injuries. Freeman destoryed his Hammy in the 1st Pre-Season and Scharnberg Knees just kept Giving Out.

Who knows what Happened to there Career without there Injuries

 

[Saintly Viewed]

I Don't think we Missed on Freeman and Scharnberg but they had no luck with Injuries. Freeman destoryed his Hammy in the 1st Pre-Season and Scharnberg Knees just kept Giving Out.

Who knows what Happened to there Career without there Injuries

In many ways Dave you’re right.

Certainly I think Matthew is an unfortunate injury story for us.

Freeman wouldn’t have been Cripps but if injury free may have been a decent player: Caveat with him, is he never struck me as football smart. I think that’s his great flaw, not a football brain.

 

[TradeDraft]

Just shows that you can't pay too much Attention to Draft Combine Results

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Just shows that you can't pay too much Attention to Draft Combine Results

They are a small part - one of the pieces.

And every piece fits together.

The single hardest thing is to predict improvement and judgment of character (that is judging who will do everything to get everything out of themselves. Eg: Scott Pendlebury will never miss self work to get better etc).

 

[Jelly Bean]

Collingwood's 'stuff up' overlooking Cripps led to change

Decorated recruiter Matthew Rendell says the Pies "stuffed up'' by missing Carlton gun Patrick Cripps and it led to change.

www.google.com

I didn't realise we'd let Rendell go! Have we lost anyone else because of Covid?

Interesting comments regarding Cripps too. At least we learned from that one.

Can someone post the text here?

 

[jmac70]

I’m assuming The Age are planning on running a series of articles about recruiters at other clubs who have lost their job...

 

[Jen2310]

Can someone post the text here?

Collingwood's just-departed veteran recruiter Matthew Rendell has explained the mistake that led the Magpies to err by overlooking Carlton superstar Patrick Cripps, and how the club's review of that decision led to a shift in their thinking.

Rendell, the former Fitzroy captain and senior St Kilda assistant coach, who became Adelaide recruiting manager and then a senior recruiter at Collingwood, said the Magpies' recruiting department had drafted Brayden Maynard 12 months later partly because of lessons learned from bypassing Cripps with two selections in the top 10 of the 2013 national draft.

Rendell, whose position at Collingwood was made redundant following round one, having previously been relegated to part-time this year, said the Magpies had misjudged Cripps by paying too much attention to his poor aerobic running. They drafted Matthew Scharenberg at pick six and then Nathan Freeman at No.10, who had significant injuries that hampered their careers, as Cripps was selected by the Blues at pick No.13.

"The lesson learned out of the whole thing was Cripps at 13," Rendell said. "Great kid, great interview, great clearance ... but basically didn't run outside the square.

"Then he goes for testing at the combine and runs an 11 beep. Jesus, I could run an 11 beep. So I've gone, 'This bloke is going to be a midfielder on an 11 beep?' Ain't going to happen."

Rendell said, under recruiting boss Derek Hine, Collingwood routinely reviews every player drafted in the AFL over five years. He said by Cripps' second year, they recognised "we've stuffed that up" by not picking the champion.

"I said, 'Righto, what have we learned out of it? Don't put everything into the running ability of an 18-year-old who's still growing.'
"The result of that, on the Cripps [decision] ... [was] Maynard, who also wasn't a great runner, [but] we've gone, 'Stuff it, we made the blue on Cripps because we didn't think he could run. We're not making the blue on Maynard.'"

Privately, Collingwood insiders say that the mistake was to misjudge Cripps' capacity to redress his running weakness through his strength of character.
In a frank interview that followed his exit from Collingwood after a 40-plus year football journey spanning six clubs (he played his last year with Brisbane and coached Melbourne reserves in 1997), Rendell also revealed:

• He had been "trying to help" get Indigenous footballers through the system when he commented to AFL community manager Jason Mifsud in a meeting in 2012 that an Indigenous player almost needed one white parent to be drafted. The comments led to Rendell's sacking as recruiting manager by the Crows. "I clearly used the wrong words. I knew Jason very well and he knew exactly what I was talking about. Other issues came into play," he said. Rendell said there was "no doubt" he was effectively sacked by the AFL, whose chief executive Andrew Demetriou intervened. "Unfortunately, well, Andrew scheduled the hit without getting the facts. Shot from the hip. No one spoke to me from the AFL [before his sacking], no one wanted to hear what I had to say."
• Collingwood had been "all over the place" and a tough working environment, with the recruiting department under unwarranted pressure before the club review led by football chief Geoff Walsh and businessman Peter Murphy in 2017. "It was damn hard work to be honest. There was a lot of angst at that club until they did that review. They were a bit all over the place," he said. "Bucks [Nathan Buckley] was still trying to find out how to coach, what to do when he was coaching ... he was still trying to find his way. Probably no different to 'Dimma' [Damien Hardwick] at Richmond. It took Dimma eight years before he turned them into a powerhouse. It took Bucks quite a while too. A lot of people weren't happy with the recruiting department. But we're still trying to work out why."
• Clubs and coaches should "stop being selfish" and encourage a more entertaining and attacking style of game, or risk losing millennials. "Stop being so bloody selfish, everyone in the business, and playing for their survival, and start worrying about the people who care [the members]," Rendell said. "We had the lowest scoring year since 1966 last year. That is a fair dinkum joke with the talent they've got on display. The millennials don't want to go and watch it and when us baby boomers all pass away, the game is going to be in real trouble unless they do something about it."
• St Kilda would have won at least two flags had they not sacked Rendell's close friend Grant Thomas as coach in 2006. "If he had've kept coaching, St Kilda would have won two or three flags. We only had to fix one area [conditioning] ... we had Geelong's measure and they won three," he observed.
• Collingwood of 2020 had a top four list, with Scott Pendlebury, 32, and Steele Sidebottom, 29, capable of playing another five years. "He [Pendlebury] can play till 36," Rendell said.

 

[neilk]

He's saying that ability should come before endurance tests at 18 yo. Saying too much stock was put in the endurance and lack of confidence to rectify it. Endurance can be trained.

Degoey was considered another with no tank but a lot of ability...even now for a mid.

It seems we took Rantall mainly because of his endurance so we haven’t totally moved away from that MO. Hopefully his skill levels can improve to match.

 

[whiskeytown]

Good interview. Several points I take from it

- the Cripps stuff up. But it wasn’t just Collingwood who overlooked him. Good to see they learned their lesson and took Maynard on potential rather than skin folds or beep test time.

- that in 2017 there was real and significant rumblings internally over Buckley, football dept, etc. Several here were insistent at that time that the noise was just media driven and guilted supporters for lacking loyalty to the club.

- the idea that Pendles could play 6 more years is exciting and says the club will back him to get to 400games (!)

 

[jmac70]

Good interview. Several points I take from it

- the Cripps stuff up. But it wasn’t just Collingwood who overlooked him. Good to see they learned their lesson and took Maynard on potential rather than skin folds or beep test time.

- that in 2017 there was real and significant rumblings internally over Buckley, football dept, etc. Several here were insistent at that time that the noise was just media driven and guilted supporters for lacking loyalty to the club.

- the idea that Pendles could play 6 more years is exciting and says the club will back him to get to 400games (!)

Disagree with your second paragraph.

 

[Apex36]

Just posted this article on Nicks Bulletin Board as well.

Fascinating comments by Rendell.

Describes the 2020 list as a top 4 list, and describes us as being "all over the place" in the lead up to the 2017 club review undertaken by Peter Murphy.

Certainly the closest admission you will find from an insider that we messed up by drafting Scharenberg and Freeman. I still believe we were super keen on Bontempelli but the Dogs took him at #4 before we had the chance to pounce.

The 2014 draft was a much improved one with the additions of De Goey, Moore and Maynard.

It’s actually genuinely irritating that the club had identified Cripps’ talent and character to be worthy of selection that early but still passed on him because of his endurance. The one bloody thing that can be improved after going in to the system...

 

[Apex36]

It seems we took Rantall mainly because of his endurance so we haven’t totally moved away from that MO. Hopefully his skill levels can improve to match.

Big difference when you’re picking a bloke at 40 than 10 though.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

How do you figure that?

Picking up a few high talent indigenous xfactor players later in draft or rookie draft would stop Stephenson at pick 6? E.g.. Sydney Stack
Yeah nah.

Like Kappa, just making the point to get the best player regardless if they have dark skin or not. Doesn't make sense to target players with a particular heritage.

It just assumes being Aboriginal is like some sort of an automatic ticket to being x factor player which is amusing.