Collingwood 2015 National Draft Selections

Collingwood News

Collingwood 2015 National Draft Selections
Brayden Sier Collingwood have used their first pick in the 2015 National Draft to select midfielder Brayden Sier from the Northern Knights. Name: Brayden Sier Recruited from: Northern Knights Age: 17 Height: 190cm Age: 91kg Position: Midfielder Profile: Sier is a big-bodied midfielder who stands at 190cm and carries a playing weight of 91kg. He is a slightly unknown commodity who played two games for the Northern Knights in 2015. In his pair of appearances he averaged 15 disposals, three tackles and delivered the ball at 80 per cent efficiency. He didn't attend either the national or state combine, but spent the majority of the season playing for his school Marcellin, where he won their best and fairest. He also managed six senior games for Banyule in division three of the Northern Football League. He has good skills, uses the ball efficiently and has matured into a good-sized player. What they said: "Brayden is a late developer who played for Marcellin and won their best and fairest. He has been in our squads as an Under 15, but he was a little bit chubbier and heavier then, and he hadn't grown. He's a big-bodied mid with good vision, good hands, kicks the ball well and is a really good size and shape now. He only played a couple of games but he's created a lot of interest." - Northern Knights talent manager Peter Kennedy. "He came into our side late in the year. That's just where he was development wise. We played him and there was enough there... A number of clubs tested him post season. We've tracked him right through but because of his size and shape and aerobic capacity more than anything... I think he was playing seconds school footy at one point. But he grew significantly across the year and he's just a fine shape of a kid at 190cm and 85kg." - Andrew Shakespeare, Northern Knights coach.	Tom Phillips Collingwood has selected 186cm midfielder Tom Phillips with pick 58 in the 2015 National Draft. Name: Tom Phillips Recruited from: Oakleigh Chargers Age: 19 Height: 186cm Weight: 75kg What they say: "Tom had a very good year right across the board. Very flexible in terms of where he can play - he played down back, played through the midfield and up forward too. We challenged him throughout the year to balance out numbers with defensive elements of his game, so he was able to match a 40-possession game with a 11, 12, 13-tackle performance. Finished second in our best and fairest, played a game at Port late in the year against Collingwood and was named Port's best player for the day at senior VFL level." - Craig Notman, Oakleigh Chargers talent manager.
Rupert Wills Collingwood has used its 64th selection in the 2015 National Draft to recruit Rupert Wills from the club's VFL affiliate team. In being selected, Wills becomes the first player to graduate from the VFL Magpies to Collingwood's senior list. Name: Rupert Wills Recruited from: Collingwood VFL Age: 22 Height: 191cm Weight: 89kg Position: Midfield/Forward Profile: Wills is already familiar with the Holden Centre after being a member of Collingwood's VFL side in 2014. He averaged 17.2 disposals in six games for the VFL Magpies in 2015, before being sidelined after suffering concussion. Prior to making his VFL debut, Wills established a fine reputation playing for Old Scotch in the VAFA. At 191cm, Wills was a key presence at Old Scotch for two years. After dominating in the reserves for much of 2013, he was rewarded with a place in the senior side and gained invaluable experience during the latter stages of the season. He secured a more regular spot in the side in 2014 and was named in the best in six of his 11 senior games. He is a proven ball-winner and a clearance specialist who finds ease getting first hands on the ball in the contest. What they say "Rupert is a powerful, tall midfielder… He's got really good upside and has some genuine power with the way he plays. He's quite an exciting player." - Collingwood VFL coach Dale Tapping, February 2015 "Rupert Wills has played only six VFL games for Collingwood this year but recruiters sure do talk about him. Tall onballer from Old Scotch." – VFL expert Paul Amy, August 2015	Ben Crocker With its fourth and final National Draft selection (No. 65 overall), Collingwood selected Oakleigh Chargers captain Ben Crocker. Crocker, 18, captained the Chargers to premiership glory against the Eastern Rangers in the TAC Cup. Name: Ben Crocker Recruited from: Oakleigh U18 Age: 18 Height: 185cm Weight: 84kg Position: Midfield/Forward Profile: A high half forward with a great attitude to training. His brother, Sam, was once on St Kilda's list, while he hails from the same Oakleigh Chargers team that once featured Jordan De Goey and Darcy Moore. The Collingwood connection continues well beyond his Oakleigh days. He grew up as a passionate Magpie fan and lived next door to Scott Burns growing up. What they say "Crock captained this year and is a real competitor who doesn't like to be beaten. He trains at a very, very high level. He's more of a forward half player at this stage but he has shown at times he can go through the middle. He is good in front of goal, has good set of hands, and I think he played better when he's hitting up the ball rather than trying to wrestle but I think he shapes as one of our best hopes come draft time," – Oakleigh Chargers' talent manager Craig Notman in Inside Football, as compiled by Brett Anderson and Ben Casanelia.

Collingwood continue to fly off the field with multi-million-dollar profits

REAL FOOTY

Despite missing the finals for the past two years Collingwood's financial health remains undented, with the club recording a total profit for this year of almost $3.5 million.
The club's profit was built on an operating profit of almost $1.9 million and the sale of the lease of the Diamond Creek Hotel for $1.6 million.
The impact of the AFL's new equalisation measures and a 12th-place finish - their second year of missing the finals - did not alter Collingwood's robust financial health. After aggressively writing down their assets by more than $2.6 million this year Collingwood will record a net operating profit of $848,076.
The Collingwood result comes after premiers Hawthorn this year announced an operating profit of $3.33 million, with the club recording a profit in excess of $3 million in each of their "threepeat" premiership seasons. The club this year also received a $2 million donation, which was not included in the figures.
Richmond also recorded a profit of $500,000, their 11th consecutive profit, with a record membership just shy of Collingwood's at 71,339.
"In a year in which we spent a further $18 million on the Glasshouse, our brilliant new community and function centre, and tipped almost $1.4 million into the AFL's equalisation pot, we continued to stand on our own two feet," Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said of the club's 15th successive profit.
Collingwood have no debt, despite construction recently being completed on the second stage of their home at the Glasshouse. The federal government contributed $10 million towards the Glasshouse community centre, with Collingwood funding the remainder.
The venue is expected to be a revenue earner for the club in future years.
While still boasting the biggest membership, Collingwood's membership fell about 5000 from 2014 to 76,516 yet still generated revenue of $16 million.
While the club is a wealthy entity, significantly a large contributor to their profit is the fact the Magpies also earned significant income from non-football sources, $2 million in net revenue coming from gaming machines.
Collingwood contributed $1.4 million in equalisation, which included the gate levy and the maximum amount in the soft tax on football spending. Hawthorn, whose total membership was 72,924 this year, paid a similar amount on equalisation ($1,349,000).
Collingwood have assets of $37.9 million. The completion of the Glasshouse will go into next financial year's accounts, consequently softening any operating profits over the next 20 years with significant write downs on the venue.
"The last 10 years has been about building the business model to remain profitable whether we have finished in the finals or not," said chief executive Gary Pert.
Borrowing from the experience of European sporting clubs such as Barcelona, the Magpies have sought to use their profits to keep costs to members as low as possible.
The philosophy is to keep the cost of joining a club as low as possible and thus attract as big a fan base as possible and generate greater income by leveraging the size of the membership base for sponsorship and broadcast rights income.
"We want to keep costs low for our members so the profits we have made have enabled us to freeze our membership prices for the last three years and keep the costs for our members as low as possible," Pert said.
"We consider one of the key reasons that its important to remain profitable is that we can keep costs to members down and that is something we have learned from the bigger European clubs and that is something we see as important in a business sense, but also important because it is in line with our philosophy as being a club for everyone."