Collingwood board 2009

[Virgil]

Unlucky break for Duffield as season opener looms
​

Collingwood have suffered the first injury of their 2009 campaign with wingman Paul Duffield suffering a broken hand at training today, ruling him out for Collingwood's season opener against Port Adelaide early next month.

The injury is believed to have occurred during training drills this morning in an innocuous collision with fellow wingman Dylan Addison.

Collingwood is understandably disappointed with the news, as Duffield is highly regarded by coach Virgil, and it is widely believed that Duffield is the player most likely to have been chosen to come off the bench for any forced omissions for the opener next month.

Ironically, Duffield's place on the bench will now be taken by Addison, who will hope to use the unfortunate accident to force his way into the starting side at his new club.

 

[Virgil]

Knights injury sours 2-0 start

A fractured eye socket for Collingwood midfielder Chris Knights is the only bad news out of Collingwood as they recorded their second win for the season on the weekend.

Preliminary reports suggest Knights will miss a month of football with the impact injury which occurred on Friday night.

Despite the bad news, coach Virgil is focusing on the positives ahead of Collingwood's round three clash with the undefeated Coburg Shitkickers, praising the efforts of nearly-lost Ben Johnson.

"Yeah, Chris will miss about a month, but that allows another player to step up. We'll probably give Benny (Johnson) a run, he's been sensational in the first two weeks and was unlucky not to get a game on the weekend".

"At the end of last year Ben was one of the last players we signed, and we've made sure that he really has to fight to earn a spot, and he's really stepped up, so all things considered Benny'll probably come in this week".

When quizzed on whether there would be any other changes this week, Virgil praised his side's depth, and said quite a few players were in the mix.

"Yeah, it'll be interesting on Thursday night. We had 30 guys playing last weekend, I think four more than any other side, so there's always competition for spots. The guys who haven't performed in the first few weeks will have to be on their toes".

"Coburg are a pretty high scoring side, so we'll have to consider all our options. Chris (Tarrant) was probably close to playing a game or two in the reserves, but now that Coburg will be without Nathan Bock I think that'll give Chris a real chance to exploit their defense and run himself into some good form".

 

[Virgil]

Collingwood season reaches premature end, B&F winner announced

Collingwood's season has come to an unexpectedand disappointing end just two weeks into the finals, after losing both of their finals matches to Geelong and Gold Coast.

Collingwood coach Virgil's side went into the finals as the 4th highest scoring side of the season, but couldn't maintain their good form into the finals as injuries hit.

Virgil's aim at the start of the season was to take Collingwood to the top four this season, and knows that his side can reach loftier heights next season, though suggested that some aggressive list management may be on the cards.

In the off-season coach Virgil knows that he will need to tinker with the make-up of the group, and acknowledges that his key position players have been something of a disappointment this season, despite the emergence of youngsters Heath Grundy, James Frawley, Alex Rance and Zac Dawson. Virgil said the biggest challenge of this year's trade period will be to find a way to cover the potential loss of star forward Jason Akermanis.

In other Collingwood news, captain Brendan Goddard has run away with the club's best and fairest in his first season at Collingwood, winning by a whopping 12 points from Leon Davis.

Last night's best and fairest count was also used to recognise the contributions of youngsters Paul Duffield, Cale Morton and Richard Tambling, who all made the top ten after stellar seasons.

The official votes for Collingwood's 2009 B&F award were:

Brendan Goddard 38
Leon Davis 26
Josh Fraser 23.5
Paul Duffield 23
Jason Akermanis 20
Cale Morton 14.5
Chad Cornes 14
Richard Tambling 12
Chris Knights 10
Heath Scotland 9
Josh Drummond 9
Travis Cloke 8
Nathan van Berlo 4.5
Ben McGlynn 4
Steven Milne 3.5
Grant Birchall 3
Chris Tarrant 2
Luke McPharlin 1

 

[Virgil]

Collingwood list for 2010:
​

Required players:

1. Leigh Adams
2. Dylan Addison
3. Chad Cornes (v)
4. Daniel Currie
5. Alwyn Davey
6. Leon Davis
7. Zac Dawson
8. Josh Drummond
9. Paul Duffield
10. Ranga Ediriwickrama
11. Josh Fraser
12. James Frawley
13. Brendan Goddard
14. Todd Goldstein
15. Heath Grundy
16. Ben Johnson
17. Josh P Kennedy
18. Chris Knights
19. Brent Macaffer
20. John McCarthy
21. Ben McGlynn
22. Luke McPharlin
23. Cale Morton
24. Jared Petrenko
25. Brent Reilly
26. Sean Rusling
27. Richard Tambling
28. Chris Tarrant
29. Jackson Trengove
30. Nathan van Berlo
31. Jesse White

Trade bait:

1. Jaxson Barham (UC)
2. Alex Rance (UC)
3. Steven Milne (UC)
4. Jason Akermanis (UC)
5. Travis Cloke (1)
6. Grant Birchall (2)
7. Heath Scotland (3)

Will also consider trades for other players if the deal is sweet enough. Generally looking for young players who already have AFL experience, high end draft picks and upgrades on picks 10, 33, 50, 67 and 84. 2-for-1 deals and the like also acceptable.

Rookies:

1. Tom Allwright (1)
2. Lachlan Keeffe (1)
3. Matthew Martin (1)

Confirmed delistings:

1. Stuart Dew (retired)
   
2. [FONT=&quot]Simon Prestigiacomo (v)
   [/FONT]

 

[Virgil]

Collingwood re-sign young key forward:

In the first bit of successful bidding news at Collingwood, young key forward Jesse White has agreed to terms to stay at the club for the next 5 years. The good news comes after both Chri$ Knight$ and Lachlan Keeffe decided to continue their careers elsewhere, with the Brisbane Bears currently the favourites to acquire them both.

Coach Virgil said this morning that he was disappointed to lose Knight$ to a rival club, but said he felt he did as much as he could to retain the star half-forward without paying an inflated salary. The acquisition of North Melbourne's Brett Ebert during the trade period has made the decision a little easier, as he should be able to fill the vacant position admirably.

Keeffe was offered a spot on Collingwood's rookie list for another year after some decent form in the reserves, but was able to find another club willing to take him onto their senior list. Collingwood has agreed to part ways with Keeffe to allow his career to blossom elsewhere.

Six other players have also departed Collingwood this pre-season, with Ranga Ediwickrama, Jaxson Barham and Ben McGlynn all being traded, Matthew Martin and Simon Prestigiacomo being delisted, and the retirement of Stuart Dew. Joining Collingwood for the new season are Ebert and young flanker Easton Wood, while Tom Allwright has been rewarded by being elevated to Collingwood's senior list.

Virgil has indicated that Collingwood are very much still active in this trade period, and are still negotiating trades to improve the current list.

Collingwood's current starting 18:

Paul Duffield - Luke McPharlin - Heath Scotland
Grant Birchall - Chad Cornes - Josh Drummond
Cale Morton - Brendan Goddard - Ben Johnson
Leon Davis - Travis Cloke - Alwyn Davey
Brett Ebert - Jesse White - Jason Akermanis
Josh Fraser - Nathan van Berlo - Richard Tambling
​

Brent Reilly - Josh P Kennedy - Brent Macaffer - Alex Rance
James Frawley - Chris Tarrant - Leigh Adams - Todd Goldstein

 

[Virgil]

Collingwood eyes guns in pre-season draft:

Collingwood coach Virgil has made his intentions known going into this year's pre-season draft, declaring that Collingwood have cash to spend and are on the lookout for a genuine gun midfielder to complete their list for the 2010 season.

Virgil's insistence on not overpaying for former Collingwood stars like Heath Shaw, Brett Kirk and Chris Knight$ has left the club with well over a million dollars to lure the competitions best out of contract players.

It is believed Collingwood made a very serious bid to lure ball magnet Brent Stanton to the club, but were unable to convince him to move away from the Western Vultures.

"We're pretty confident we'll be able to lure a big name over in the next week or two. We've got great facilities at the club and we'll be making very generous offers towards players we deem worthy of pulling on a Collingwood jumper", Virgil said this afternoon.

While Virgil would not confirm which players he had in mind, it is believed the club has spoken to Andrew Embley about acquiring his services for 2010 and beyond. Other players rumoured to be in Virgil's sights include Rhys Palmer, Lenny Hayes, Cameron Ling and Brent Moloney.

When asked if matching the high contracts offered to players like Kirk, Shaw and Knight$ would have provided Collingwood with the star power they were currently looking for, Virgil declined to comment.

 

[Virgil]

Collingwood list finalised ahead of draft

With the re-signing of Jason Akermanis for one more year, Collingwood has finalised the list it will take into the national draft. Collingwood will use four picks in the national draft, as well as two more to acquire the services of Simon Goodwin and Nathan Eagleton.

Collingwood
Manager
Virgil
Senior List
1. Leigh Adams - $107,000 (3)
2. Dylan Addison - $243,000 (3)
3. Jason Akermanis - $158,000 (1)
4. Tom Allwright - $80,000 (1)
5. Travis Cloke - $223,000 (1)
6. Daniel Currie - $107,000 (4)
7. Leon Davis - $350,000 (3)
8. Phil Davis - $95,000 (5)
9. Josh Drummond - $312,000 (3)
10. Paul Duffield - $150,000 (3)
11. Brett Ebert - $230,000 (3)
12. Andrew Embley - $391,000 (3)
13. James Frawley - $180,000 (5)
14. Brendon Goddard - $357,000 (4)
15. Todd Goldstein - $130,000 (2)
16. Heath Grundy - $107,000 (1)
17. Josh P Kennedy - $212,000 (2)
18. Brent Macaffer - $77,000 (1)
19. Luke McPharlin - $262,000 (3)
20. Cale Morton - $310,000 (2)
21. Jared Petrenko - $103,000 (1)
22. James Polkinghorne - $102,000 (5)
23. Brent Reilly - $227,000 (2)
24. Sean Rusling - $125,000 (1)
25. Heath Scotland - $357,000 (3)
26. Richard Tambling - $520,000 (5)
27. Jackson Trengove - $75,000 (1)
28. Nathan Van Berlo - $329,000 (3)
29. Jesse White - $203,000 (5)
30. Easton Wood - $101,000 (5)
Eligible Stalwarts
31. Ben Johnson - $150,000 (2)
Unpassable Picks
32. Draft Pick 24 - $68,000 (2)
33. Draft Pick 33 - $68,000 (2)
34. Draft Pick 42 - $64,000 (2)
35. Draft Pick 43 - $64,000 (2)
36. Simon Goodwin (PSD10) - $400,000 (1)
37. Nathan Eagleton (PSD 27) - $350,000 (1)
Stalwarts
38. Josh Fraser - $450,000 (4)
Veterans List
39. Chad Cornes (1)
40. Chris Tarrant (4)

TPP: $7,587,000

Best 18:

Paul Duffield - Luke McPharlin - Heath Scotland
Andrew Embley - Chad Cornes - Josh Drummond
Cale Morton - Simon Goodwin - Nathan Eagleton
Leon Davis - Travis Cloke - Nathan van Berlo
Brett Ebert - Jesse White - Jason Akermanis
Josh Fraser - Richard Tambling - Brendan Goddard

Reserves:

Ben Johnson - Josh P Kennedy - Brent Reilly - James Polkinghorne
Brent Macaffer - Heath Grundy - Chris Tarrant - Todd Goldstein

 

[Virgil]

Collingwood welcome... Cruize Garlett.

Collingwood have selected slight midfielder/forward Cruize Garlett with their first selection in the 2009 National Draft (pick 24 overall).

Garlett broke into the AFL last year coming off North Melbourne's rookie list, playing five games, including a 20-possession game against St. Kilda in Round 21 and a 23-possession game in Round 22 against Port Adelaide. Garlett has also played in both of North Ballarat's VFL premiership sides in 2008 and 2009.

Collingwood are pleased to be able to announce that Garlett has agreed to join the club for the next four years, and coach Virgil is hopeful Garlett will be able to break into Collingwood's AFLTM side on a regular basis playing across half-forward.
​

 

[Jolldo87]

Collingwood Announces Change of Coach

After only winning one of their first three matches in the 2010 season, being knocked out in Round 1 of the Preseason competition and going out in straight sets in the 2009 finals series the Collingwood board have decide to sack coach Virgil. The board stated earlier this morning that, "A combination of disappointing results and the fact that the players no longer had faith in the coach meant that we had no choice in our decision other than to sack him."

Rookie coach Jolldo87 was announced to take over Virgil's old job. When interviewed Jolldo said, "It's a great honour to take over such a great club and hopefully I can lead this club to glory. Virgil has left me a fantastic list which should mean we can get off to a successful start this weekend." Jolldo already has a selection dilemma with superstar player Jason Akermanis out with a concussion for this weeks crucial match against the Broncos.

When approached Virgil declined to comment on the issue.