Former Collingwood recruiter Matt Rendell has made the extraordinary claim that departing Magpies list manager Ned Guy "didn't watch much footy".
Guy has been under immense pressure ever since the Magpies' horrendous 2020 trade period, in which the club let go Adam Treloar (Bulldogs), Jaidyn Stephenson (North Melbourne), Tom Phillips (Hawthorn) and Atu Bonsenavulagi (North Melbourne) without gaining a single player. All the Magpies received in return were draft picks 14, 65, 70, 75 and 92, as well as a future second-round selection.
Guy, who will leave his post as list manager at the conclusion of the 2021 mid-season draft in June, fronted the media moments after the trade period in an attempt to defend Collingwood's moves.
And although he did his best to sugar-coat the club's woeful performance in the trade period, the Magpies are now 1-6 after the opening seven rounds of the 2021 season and appear to have butchered their premiership window, pointing to their failure at the trade table.
Guy's resignation as list manager didn't take Rendell by surprise.
"I haven't spoken to anyone about it or anyone at Collingwood. It was a disaster, not (all of his) own making, the last trade period," Rendell said on SEN.
"That was a list-management monumental stuff-up not only of one, but two or three years. Everyone has to take responsibility of that list-management group. He was trying to manage the outcome the best he could. He didn't have much cards to deal with because everyone knew it was a fire-sale.
"Ultimately, the footy manager is responsible. List manager does all the groundwork, but the footy manager signs off on TPP (total player payments) and salary cap stuff. He has to sign off on trades and contracts.
"Ned's background is in finance and I think that's why they got him in to try and fix up the TPP. But it didn't quite work out that way.
"My experience was that he didn't watch much footy. People are coming into the club in recruiting and list management - you have to love watching all footy. I watch AFL, VFL, women's, under-18s, and I'll go to the local clubs and watch them play. Any grade of football I'll watch.
"I don't think Ned was that keen on watching a lot of footy. From that point of view I thought it was a really poor appointment by (then general manager of football) Geoff Walsh, from my point of view. And it's no surprise it has ended up like it has."
Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire defended the club's list management on a recent edition of Nine's Footy Classified, hitting out at panelist Sam McClure for labelling the Magpies' performance at the trade and draft tables "a debacle".
McGuire agued that the Magpies' recent list management hadn't been "a debacle" because, in the last three years, they'd played in a grand final, made a qualifying final and beaten West Coast in Perth in an elimination final.
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from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/news-2021-collingwood-magpies-ned-guy-list-management-matt-rendell/62e61c05-3cfb-44ae-af1c-95e3c464fd93
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