Collingwood recruit Ned Long might be one of the most ready players recruited in Wednesday’s AFL Mid-Season Draft, but the ex-Hawthorn midfielder won’t be available for selection in his early stages as a senior Magpie due to injury.
With Craig McRae‘s list having 16 players on the injury list, Long might’ve stood a chance to line up for Collingwood as early as this week given the club’s absence of onballer talent for their clash with the Western Bulldogs on Friday.
Long spent the summer training under McRae in an early bid to secure a promotion at Olympic Park but wouldn’t secure a list spot, however the 21-year-old has continued to train with the reigning premiers on the odd occasion while playing at VFL level on weekends.
The former Hawthorn-listed player was one of two Collingwood VFL players recruited at the Mid-Season Draft, with key forward Jack Hutchinson joining West Coast.
Speaking via the club’s media arm, Collingwood recruitment boss stated his excitement for the pair while revealing Long is dealing with an injury concern.
“He’s got a little niggle at the moment, which is only a one-or two-week injury, but you could make a case potentially that he may have already played given our profile,” Hine said.
“We’re rapt. I can’t emphasise enough how important it is that we keep developing that VFL program. It’s a testament to both Ned and ‘Hutchy’ getting taken, they were the only two players taken from the one club.
“(Ned’s) a player that can plug and play, he can play multiple positions for us. There’s a real attraction to that.
“We don’t have to train him in terms of any position or likely position he’s going to play because he has already played them.”
The Magpies also recruited Eastern Ranges ruckman Iliro Smit with their opening selection at the Mid-Season Draft, with the 18-year-old having overcome his own injury concerns in recent years to get back onto the radar of AFL clubs.
Seen as more of a development option for Collingwood, Smit will join the Magpies’ budding ruck stocks that include Aiden Begg and the uncapped Oscar Steene.