Saints great Leigh Montagna urges Collingwood to make ‘hard list management calls’ and rebuild

St Kilda legend Leigh Montagna believes that Collingwood need to commit to a full rebuild if the club is to rise up the ladder anytime soon.

The Pies slipped to 1-5 after ANZAC Day's loss to the Bombers that exposed just where their list is at, while the rising Bombers committed to rebuilding their list and look reenergised.

Essendon lost Adam Saad, Joe Daniher and Orazio Fantasia and ended up with three top 10 picks in return.

Meanwhile, Collingwood let go of Tom Phillips, Adam Treloar and Jaidyn Stephenson in the trade period and received little in return.

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Collingwood are also paying a large sum of money for Treloar's Bulldogs contract and the retired Dayne Beams despite the duo not being at the club anymore.

Speaking on Fox Footy's First Crack podcast Montagna said ANZAC Day exposed how the two clubs were heading in opposite directions.

“Today I saw a juncture. I saw one team, in Essendon, that are slowly starting to head north with their rebuild, and their list profile and game style. On the other side I saw another team in Collingwood that are starting to head south," the dual All-Australian said.

“It‘s gonna be a long way back for Collingwood. Just with the way their list is structured up, and the way they’re going.

“That‘s 15 players on Collingwood’s list who are getting towards the back end of their career. And I don’t see enough young talent coming through.

“I saw Isaac Quaynor as a 21-year-old, and Josh Daicos who‘s gonna be a star at 22. But that’s not enough, and I think this is the time Collingwood needs to realise that they need to make some hard calls with list management. Maybe trade away one or two of their highly-talented players; they already did it with (Adam) Treloar, but they didn’t get enough bang for buck there.

“Like Essendon. Essendon lost (Adam) Saad, they lost (Orazio) Fantasia, they lost (Joe) Daniher, but I think they came out better for it. They got three picks inside the top 10. I think Collingwood have to go down a full rebuild, and start to really get some top 10 draft picks, and turn this club around. They‘re gonna get Nick Daicos, which is a great start.”

Collingwood have star power on their list, but lack depth and don't appear destined for success anytime soon with the current list.

They recently re-signed Darcy Moore and Jordan De Goey on big money, while Brodie Grundy is playing out a seven-year, $7 million deal.

Montagna believes the Pies have currency if they decide to commit to a full rebuild at season's end.

“You wouldn‘t trade Pendlebury, but do they think about De Goey? Do they think about Brodie Grundy? Do you make a decision that is really, really hard, but get two top-ten draft picks and start again and bite the bullet?” Montagna said.

“Because there‘s a lot of guys there who they’ve given a lot of time to, and have given great service to this football club … but now’s the time they have to start looking to the future, and I think they need more young talent.“

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David King questioned whether De Goey for one, had the value Collingwood would be demanding at the trade table.

De Goey has underperformed this year, booting seven goals from five games - with four of those coming in Round 2 against Carlton.

“Who‘s giving up two first-round picks for Jordan De Goey? I don’t think there’d be many clubs that would,” he said.

“So what does a rebuild look like on game day? What does a rebuild look like for Collingwood today? Six players under ten games today, so they‘ve done that. Rantall, Macrae, Kelly, Murphy, McCreery, Ruscoe. 11 players under 30 games. They’re in a rebuild, mate. They’ve started.”

Montagna doubled-down saying the Pies needed to reach their rock-bottom before  they rise.

Carlton infamously showed how grim that can look when they won just two games in 2018, despite Brendan Bolton being in his third year at the club.

Before that, the Blues had won six and seven games in the years prior under Bolton.

Montagna believes the Pies have to go back to go forwards.

“Looking at it today, they‘ve got a long way to go, and they haven’t even bottomed out yet. I’m looking at Essendon today going gee wiz, they’ve already started their rebuild, they’re heading in the right direction. Collingwood haven’t even hit ground zero yet and they’ve got a long way to go until they’re a team again that’s contending for the top four,” he said.

“If they knew at the start of the year they were rebuilding, why wouldn‘t they have played Darcy Cameron in Round 1 instead of Mason Cox? Why did Chris Mayne get a game? Why have they played Levi Greenwood? Are they trying to win games, or are they trying to rebuild at the start of the year?”

“You don‘t just play kids because of their birth certificates,” King added.

“Every team tries in the first five or six weeks to try and bank wins, because you don‘t know what the competition’s doing and you don’t know where you’re at. Sydney didn’t know they were gonna be where they were. I don’t think the Dogs or Melbourne knew they were gonna be this good - you’re testing the water.

“Fremantle have kept Mundy and Fyfe, they haven‘t just tipped them out because they’re rebuilding.“