Coupled with the veneer of a well-oiled and integrated AFL, AFLW and netball operation at Collingwood's Holden Centre, where the Magpies boast arguably the best facilities in the country, why are the Magpies struggling in the expanding arena of AFLW? On the field, six of the team's top 10 from last year's best and fairest left the club before the 2019 season. Plus reigning competition Rising Star and Collingwood best and fairest, 20-year-old Chloe Molloy, has missed this campaign with a foot injury. Collingwood players leave the field after their loss to Melbourne at Victoria Park. Credit:Wayne Ludbey Why did players leave? Many people involved with the team in its first two years say it was not a harmonious camp until this year. Several spoke of a discord between high-profile players and the coaching team, headlined by a verbal tirade directed at a coach in front of the team by one player.



Having started 2018 with three losses, the team organised a players-only meeting, which preceded four successive wins. Any "culture problems" seemingly were between coaches and players, rather than cliques within the team. We were left in the position where unfortunately the very first year of AFLW, Collingwood’s list that was put together wasn’t a very good list. It was probably one of the worst lists in the competition. Mathew James, former operations manager On top of the four who moved to North Melbourne, last year's leading goalkicker Christina Bernardi is at the Giants, while Amelia Mullane followed former Collingwood senior assistant and now Carlton head coach Daniel Harford to the Blues, citing her strong relationship with him. Mathew James was head of women's football operations for the 2018 season and took part in list management up until the end of the 2018 post-season trade period, when those players left. He says Collingwood wanted to keep all the players, but were unwilling or unable to match the offers of expansion clubs such as North Melbourne.

"Never once did we tell a player that we wanted them to go. Obviously all of those players, we would’ve loved to have retained," he explains. "When you’ve got clubs like North Melbourne and expansion clubs currently, they’re going to inflate prices of players, no different to the men’s programs. When you’ve got opportunities for players to change clubs for a bit of extra money or a car or those things, at some point you’ve got to draw the line, and go 'OK, this is where we stand as a football club, this is where we see your value.'" It hasn't helped that King, 24, one of Collingwood's marquee signings in 2017 alongside Hope, has been starring for the Kangaroos in the ruck and up forward, while Duffin has made a highly successful transition to defence at North. More than one player who left is said to have felt they were not being developed or challenged at Collingwood. From the club's perspective, Woodlands-Thompson believes that mass departures are not rare in a competition with two new teams this year and four more in 2020.

Emma King has been dominating for her new club, North Melbourne Credit:AAP "There’s no blanket reason for why players leave clubs and while the league continues to expand, no doubt we did take the big hit with players going to expansion teams, that’s fact," she says. "We tried to look at that as an opportunity now to set the foundations for where we want to go for long-term success, with the view to that full expansion on the horizon." As Collingwood look to avoid losing yet more players ahead of 2020, those inside and outside the club report that this season's squad is reading from the same script. "The culture, the happiness, the togetherness, the team at that football club now is better than it’s ever been," says James, now the agent of several current Collingwood players.

"That’s going to hold them in great stead. They may be 0 and 4, but they’re doing everything to improve and they’ve got each other’s backs. That certainly hasn’t been the case as a football club in previous years." Youth strategy: We're not winning now, but we will in future In lieu of senior players' departures, James says Collingwood was the only club to set their sights on the long-term – their first four picks in last year's draft were born in the year 2000, and 12 of the squad's 31 players are 21 or younger. "It was a clear direction from the club to invest in the youth, and go down that path," he says. "I think that’s the right decision. Collingwood is the only club that’s gone down that path, really. They didn’t top up on any mature-age players, so I think you’ll see the best of the football club in 2021, 2022."

It's pretty obvious that we are investing in development, and this year we’re probably not going to see the impact of win/loss that we had hoped. Jane Woodlands-Thompson He also believes they were playing catch-up from season one. "When I came on board to take on the role, we were left in the position where unfortunately the very first year of AFLW, Collingwood’s list that was put together wasn’t a very good list. It was probably one of the worst lists in the competition. Some of the ramifications are really being felt now, having to go back a few cogs and rebuild that." Ahead of 2019, noting Collingwood's loss of senior players and injuries to Molloy and Melissa Kuys, the AFL – intent on equalisation of the women's league – allowed the Pies an extra round-two draft pick and access to their VFL players Erica Fowler and Sophie Alexander before the draft. Despite these concessions, no team with nine players signed from the draft is expected to immediately hit its straps. Collingwood's VFLW side finished top with just one loss in 2018 and will be a key breeding ground when the season kicks off in May.

The result in the meantime is essentially requesting sport's most elusive trait from the Collingwood faithful: patience. "The fans obviously want to see wins on the board, particularly at a club that has such a proud history of tradition and success," admits Woodlands-Thompson. "A lot of them when I’ve caught them at training have said, ‘yep, I can see what we’re doing, we know there’s going to be some ups and downs in that development stage.’ "It's pretty obvious that we are investing in development, and this year we’re probably not going to see the impact of win/loss that we had hoped. But we go out every single game to win the game, there’s no doubt about that."

But is a long-term strategy possible in AFLW? Adopting a youth-focused approach was not entirely within Collingwood's control – the pool of experienced AFLW players is thin, with those of the ilk of King and Bernardi yet rarer. Loading The Pies lost a plethora of experience when 37-year-olds Meg Hutchins and Bree White, plus 32-year-old Lauren Tesoriero, were delisted after their second AFLW seasons in 2018. A tiered AFLW payment structure means big-name departures might have opened up salary cap room to lure experienced names from rival clubs.

Yet the team now has just four players over 30 – one being former netballer Sharni Layton, who played her first game of competitive Aussie rules this year. As further expansion looms, the question facing Collingwood's strategy of bedding in young players is whether it can survive the turbulence of four more clubs. Prior to expansion, clubs agreed with the AFL that player departures would be capped at four per team, rather than a cap on the best players. The onus therefore is on existing clubs such as Collingwood to forge a happy environment, and/or match the bids of opposing teams. "We would never believe that you only come to Collingwood because we can find you a car, or find you somewhere to live," Woodlands-Thompson says. "We want people to come to Collingwood because they really want to play in the black-and-white jumper. We don’t shy away from that, and culture is super important to us.

"We’ve got some great buy-in from the young brigade we have this year, and it’s our hope to keep the core of the last two years of draftees together to build a really long-term successful future, while acknowledging that expansion is taking place." Harford, speaking of his Carlton charges, noted the challenge facing all teams as the competition braces for 120 new players in 2020. "I’m not sure how far you can plan these days with the system that we’ve got. You’ve got one-year contracts, expansion teams coming in, so it’s difficult to understand what your list is going to look like next year, let alone at the end of 2020. It is difficult, with the format and system that’s currently in place with AFLW." Long-term strategy, short-term management Beneath the club's focus on a playing squad for the future have been year-on-year changes in management and coaching staff in the women's department.

There have been three women's football operations managers in three years: Meg Hutchins, who simultaneously played in the team in season one; James; and as of November, former AFL match-day operations manager Tess McManus. The furore surrounding then-football chief Graeme "Gubby" Allan's one-year suspension in 2016 also added to back-room unrest as the AFLW side began to establish itself. On the coaching front, all of head coach Siekman's four backroom staff from season one were replaced for season two. Harford came in as a senior assistant in 2018 and was extremely popular with the players. This year he is Carlton's AFLW head coach. Loading Pies defender Lynden Dunn and Chloe McMillan, who James labels "one of the best football brains in the country", are in their second year of first-team coaching. Siekman has been there from the start. His contract is due to expire at the end of this season. Woodlands-Thompson said the club would go through its regular end-of-season review but indicated that the club was keen to maintain coaching consistency.

As for his own departure just one year into implementing the club's long-term strategy, James says it was "never a long-term position for me". "It was a personal thing, I didn’t think I could take the program any further ... I just felt the timing was right for me to move on to my next challenge," he said. While the strategy plays out, Woodlands-Thompson is preaching another familiar message: keep the faith. "We won’t accept mediocrity. But if we can see that investment and development for some long-term success, particularly after next year, then hopefully the fans will be a little patient."