The draft class misses that will impact Collingwood's ability to rebuild their list

Collingwood had picks 17, 19, 23, 30 and 31 in the 2020 National Draft, where they selected Oliver Henry, Fin Macrae, Reef McInnes, Caleb Poulter and Liam McMahon.

Henry has moved to Geelong, Poulter was delisted and is now at the Bulldogs, McMahon is now on Carlton’s VFL list, while Macrae and McInnes are still around but haven’t established themselves in the club’s best 22.

The 2020 National Draft was an incredibly difficult one to pick, given the COVID lockdowns meant Under 18s seasons were cancelled, and only a handful of players have actually emerged as stars from the draft class.

Western Bulldogs great Brad Johnson however believes not nailing this draft class, whether it was their fault or not, has impacted the Pies’ ability to regenerate their list following their success between 2018 to 2024.

“It’s probably exacerbated by the amount of players they have over 30,” Johnson told SEN’s Sportsday.

“But for me, it probably goes back four years to 2020 which stands out to me where they had five picks under 31 and of those five picks, Ollie Henry isn’t there anymore, Fin Macrae hasn’t come along, Reef McInnes the same, Poulter’s not at the club and McMahon isn’t either.

“That was probably the draft they were looking at to set up the rebuild in some ways for what we’re seeing now, and Beau McCreery is the only one that has come out of that group to become a regular player.”

When asked if the Magpies will be a finals contender in three years, Johnson said “no”.

The Pies still left 2020 with talent later in the draft, picking Beau McCreery at 44 and Jack Ginnivan in the rookie draft.

Ginnivan is now at Hawthorn after being moved on out of the club following the 2023 Grand Final.

Collingwood’s faint finals hopes rest on picking up four points on the weekend when they face Richmond.