The Collingwood Magpies generally make quite a splash during the trade period, but they were mostly absent in 2017, the reason being that they are supposedly biding time in the long-term quest to have the ability to make a big play for The Gold Coast Sun’s Tom Lynch following the 2018 AFL season.
Out of the frying pan straight into another frying pan, eh Mr. Lynch?
The fire in this case is in Brisbane. Lynch would hopefully receive some compelling reasons, other than moving up from the 17th rung his side occupied this season past to the 13th inhabited by the Pies.
Many expert observers and punters watched Collingwood during the trade period and came away perplexed that the only thing they accomplished was to secure uncapped Sydney Swans rookie Sam Murray.
A year in the time frame of the AFL is close to an eternity, so this is all idle speculation at this point, but list guru Chris Pelchen is the source of the idea. “I think they’re going to be a very, very keen pursuer of Tom Lynch in 12 months,” Pelchen told the Fox Footy podcast.
Lynch will be a restricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2018 AFL Premiership competition, so more than a few of the Victoria based clubs may have similar designs.
The Pies could obviously use a tall forward to take some of the weight of that role away from Darcy Moore, but much the same could be said about the entire list of Collingwood, as they have not won a premiership since 2010, after which they suffered the almost inevitable decline as flagged players were the objects of desire for the other sides looking to edit their lists in hopes of better outcomes.
Pelchen also expressed the view that another reason behind the Magpies lack of trade activity is simply a reaction to the previous years, and that they simply needed to take a breather and devote a bit more focus to the draft.
