There is an illogical view that Collingwood’s failure to add senior players of note, as the 2025 premiers did and Hawthorn attempted, was a setback for a club that is hurtling towards a demographic cliff face.

The Magpies did not acquire anyone during the trade period, besides the cheap recruitment of Jack Buller from the Swans as a key forward/second ruck option, as their tilt at snaring North Melbourne skipper Jy Simpkin foundered on the rock of their unwillingness to cough up first-round draft choices.

Collingwood opted not to meet North Melbourne’s price for their captain Jy Simpkin.Credit: AFL Photos

That reluctance to part with even one first-round pick (North demanded two firsts) for Simpkin contrasted with the trade periods of 2023 and 2024, when the Pies gave up future first-rounders for Lachie Schultz and then Dan Houston.

Unsurprisingly, the Schultz and Houston deals were largely feted as coups that would take Collingwood closer to a second premiership. The longer-term costs and risks of those trades were brushed over because the Magpies were “in the premiership window” and could justify short-termism when they might snag another flag.

This year, Collingwood fared exceptionally well for 16 rounds of the home-and-away season, faltered – for a raft of reasons such as injury, weary bodies and Bobby Hill’s absence – then recovered sufficiently to upset Adelaide in week one of the finals.

In retrospect, their loss to the Brisbane Lions in the preliminary final was a reasonable performance, considering the premiers’ edge in talent, especially in the midfield. The Pies weren’t at the level that Craig McRae might have projected, but nor were they embarrassed.

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