Former Collingwood recruiter Matt Rendell has revealed why the Magpies overlooked 2022 Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps twice in the 2013 National Draft.
Cripps was picked by Carlton at no. 13, and Collingwood – who were armed with picks 6 and 10 – took Matt Scharenberg and Nathan Freeman respectively ahead of him.
In hindsight, Rendell acknowledged that’s proven to be a costly mistake as Scharenberg and Freeman combined for just 41 games in black and white as injuries cruelled their time at the club, while Cripps has gone on to become one of the game’s greats.
“Cripps, he was pick 13 to Carlton in that draft,” Rendell said on SEN’s The Sporting Capital.
“We (Collingwood) had two picks at six and 10, we took (Matt) Scharenberg and (Nathan) Freeman.
“Scharenberg did three knees and Freeman did a hammy and didn’t play a game for two years.
“He (Freeman) never really recovered from his bad hammy, he should’ve had it operated on straight away, but they didn’t.”
While they liked him in his draft year, Rendell revealed Collingwood passed up on the Carlton captain twice not because of his football ability, but his lack of fitness as an underage player from Western Australia.
“Cripps, who we really liked, he had great character, was a great interview, we watched him play a lot, he was a great clearance man but couldn’t run out of the centre square,” Rendell said.
“So we really liked him, but what could we do with this bloke? Then they do the testing at the end of the year, he ran an 11 beep (test), I could run at 11 beep!
“If you run an 11 beep as a midfielder you can’t take them, anyway, a lot of clubs thought the same.
“Carlton took him, and what a great pick by Carlton, he got himself fit and he’s a quality person, we should’ve backed the quality person that he was to get himself right and get himself fit.”
With Cripps becoming an immediate success at Carlton, Rendell says he and the Collingwood recruiting team learned their lesson in prioritising the fitness of draftees too high.
That was a teaching that eventually paid dividends as they were able to land Brayden Maynard at pick 30 the following year’s draft after concerns about his game readiness were also tabled.
“In that draft, the (Jordan) De Goey and (Darcy) Moore draft, we had Maynard rated about six in that draft,” Rendell said.
“It got to pick 29 and Gold Coast had a pick and we had pick 30.
“I’ve gone, ‘Jesus, I hope they don’t take Maynard’, they took Touk Miller, who we did like as a player, but we were so ecstatic to get Maynard.
“Now, the reason Maynard went so low, he could not run, he ran about a 12 beep.
“You know what we said, we just watched Patty Cripps kill it, ‘Bugger the running, we’re taking Maynard’.
“We went, ‘We made a blue, he’s a quality character, he’ll get himself right’.”
Maynard was named to his maiden All-Australian side in 2022 and has played 161 games in black and white.