I'd love to see the club keep all our stars and recruit other stars to join our club but the reality of salary caps makes that hard to achieve.
Unfortunately I think the club has made the decision that Jordan DeGoey has been told, either directly or indirectly that if he is to stay at the club it will be on Collingwoods terms at a reduced salary and given he is a free agent at the end of this year he is free to explore his options. The harsh reality is that Jordan and his management appear to be focusing on getting the top dollar available and it is likely that St.Kilda, who are desperate to remain relevant, will risk the farm to land a potential A Grader to help them achieve success in the short term. Geelong will probably have Selwood retire at the end of this year to give them the cap space to fit DeGoey in on a good price and get an upgrade in terms of replacing Selwood with another ready made star. Even Richmond could be another club to offer DeGoey a fat contract if they loose Cotchin to retirement and Martin goes to Sydney. West Coast might have plenty of salary cap space available, and they can offer lots of corporate "support" to enhance their offer. The only issue to hold back the offers from these clubs is if they are spooked by the so-called risk of DeGoey's history of behavior at Collingwood, but I think that is unlikely to be a concern for them or any other AFL club, as all clubs, including Collingwood, think their culture will turn any naughty party boys around to be a solid citizen at their club and the brighter the talent the more buyers forgive & forget about past bad behavior.
In my dream world, Jordan DeGoey would recognize the support Collingwood has given him and his love of the club and mates he has there would have him turn his back on a bigger $ contract at opposition clubs and stay with the Pies to be a one club player that makes a significant contribution to winning multiple premierships at Collingwood with the current team. Unfortunately I'm beginning to doubt that Degoey's dreams match mine.
The recent rumour's of Collingwood being all in to Tim Taranto only makes me feel it more likely DeGoey is on the way out as Taranto is probably as good as replacement for DeGoey as there is going around at the moment.
As for all the talk about Grundy's future, I hope it is all nonsense and I really hope Grundy comes back to play with both Cameron and Cox in the team with Cameron playing mostly forward as the marking forward leaving Grundy to do the majority of the ruck work with help from Cox who would swing through the forward line and interchange. Whilst the idea of playing three "ruckmen" may unbalance the team the idea tantalizes me to have our three marking talls rip the opposition defense apart in the dry warm clear weather of September!!
As far as recruiting of Taranto and McStay goes, I hope the upcoming retirements of Pendlebury, Howe and Sidebottom together with Elliot and maybe Cox by 2024 /25 allows Collingwood the room in our salary cap to fit these two into the squad but of the two I'd prefer Taranto if only one can be afforded.
Collingwood Domination. Envy of the Nation!
