COLLINGWOOD has ticked off a move to bring in big-bodied Brisbane midfielder Jack Crisp as the answer to the Dayne Beams dilemma.

The Magpies have broken the Beams deadlock with an agreement that will net the club picks No. 5, 25 and Crisp from the Lions in exchange for the onball superstar.

Crisp was also chased by Essendon but settled on the Pies after a tour of the Westpac Centre facilities yesterday.

MAGPIES TO HIT BACK HARD: CLOKE

Crisp’s TAC Cup coach, Murray Bushrangers’ Darren Ogier, yesterday lauded the athletic ball-winner for his courage and power running.

“He is certainly fearless and has very quick hands in close,” Ogier said.

“He really gets his hands on the footy for quite a tall player, has great endurance and he is always team-first. Someone you would love to play alongside.”

The speedy on-baller averaged 19 disposals, seven contested possessions and three tackles in the last six games of the season at Brisbane

Pick No. 25 will secure Collingwood on-baller Levi Greenwood from North Melbourne, while Beams’s departure will clear the required salary cap space to nab Geelong speedster Travis Varcoe.

media_camera Victorian Jack Crisp is set to become a Collingwood player. Pic: Sarah Marshall

Importantly, the deal means the Pies will avoid a potentially toxic scenario where Beams would be kept at the Westpac Centre, and away from his Brisbane-based father who has battled illness, against his wishes.

Crisp, like Pendlebury, is a 190cm gun junior basketballer, who has been hailed for his spatial awareness and ball-handling in traffic.

Crisp’s father, Matt, yesterday said six years of representative basketball in Wangaratta as a junior had bolstered his athleticism and helped him navigate tight spaces on the football field.

“I think it has really helped him with things like his peripheral vision and awareness in close,” Matt Crisp said yesterday.

“And with his defence and corralling players. He was a pretty handy basketballer.”

From Murray Bushrangers, Crisp was plucked with pick No. 40 in the 2012 rookie draft but has played only 18 senior games in his three seasons at the Lions.

His arrival at Collingwood helps bolster the Pies’ size, speed and defensive requirements in the midfield.

Crisp, 21, was regarded as one of the TAC Cup’s leading pressure act players with his frenzied chasing and tackling.

Ogier said the tall midfielder had an uncompromising and selfless attitude.

“He was always in the highlight reel for his chase-down tackles and that sort of thing,” Ogier said. “Diving smothers. He is superb in that area and just thrives on the contest side of it.”

media_camera Levi Greenwood is expected to be traded to Collingwood. Picture: Colleen Petch.

COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley may face a tougher challenge to improve his team’s kicking accuracy next season.

The Pies ranked 15th for expected field kicking accuracy last season according to Champion Data, which measures each player’s actual accuracy against the expected rate.

Champion Data rate every kick based on its length, accuracy, field position and the pressure the player was under.

But each of the Pies’ three midfield trade targets rated below expected field kicking accuracy last season.

Varcoe rated — 4.6 per cent cent under the expected accuracy, while Jack Crisp (-7.3 per cent) and Levi Greenwood (-8.6 per cent) were also under the mark.

Crisp’s TAC Cup coach, Darren Ogier, said the midfielder had worked hard on his foot use.

“His kicking was something that we did work on and it seems to me that he has certainly been keen to improve in that area,” Ogier said.

“He wasn’t elite either, but he can certainly get it from A to B.

“Being in a system full-time it seems that he has continued to develop those skills.”

KICKING CONCERNS

Collingwood ranked 15th for expected field kicking accuracy this year.

Expected accuracy factors in the difficulty, position and length of each kick.

Collingwood’s three targeted recruits were rated by Champion Data as below average or poor for expected kicking accuracy

PLAYER PERCENTAGE CHAMPION DATA RANKING

Travis Varcoe minus 4.6 per cent (below expected accuracy) Below average

Jack Crisp minus 7.3 per cent (below expected accuracy) Poor

Levi Greenwood minus 8.6 per cent (below expected accuracy) Poor

*Source Champion Data

MAGPIE MOVES

OUT: Dayne Beams, 24 (Brisbane)

Heritier Lumumba, 27 (Melbourne)

IN:

Pick 5 (from Brisbane)

Pick 25 on traded to North Melbourne for Levi Greenwood, 25

Jack Crisp, 21 (Brisbane)

Travis Varcoe, 26 (Geelong)