Pies out of pickle

Suns deal solves Daicos issue

COLLINGWOOD has spared itself from the doomsday scenario of going into draft deficit when it comes to matching a bid on boom father-son prospect Nick Daicos.

In the first deal struck in this year’s trade period, the Magpies sent their future second, third and fourth-round selections to Gold Coast for picks 22, 46, 58, 79 and a future fourth-rounder.

The trade delivers Collingwood 1346 draft points to add to its tally to match a bid for Daicos – which could come as high as No.1 – but also provides flexibility to negotiate deals for Patrick Lipinski and Nathan Kreuger.

North Melbourne is expected to take South Adelaide midfielder-forward Jason Horne-Francis first overall, but if the Roos were to bid on Daicos, then the Pies would have to muster 2400 draft points to get him.

Monday’s pick swap with the Suns now swells Collingwood’s draft hand to a points equivalent of almost 3000, given it already had selections 36, 41, 43 and 48.

Magpies head of football Graham Wright said the deal also gave them “scope to pursue a range of possibilities”.

“We have happily been able to make a commitment to Nick Daicos and we are in discussions to acquire a few others,” Wright said.

“More broadly, the deal enables us to continue to build a stockpile of young talent.

“We mined the draft last year to bring six of the first 44 players into our program. Close to half of our list are in the first-to-third-year phases of their careers and today’s agreement with the Suns will allow us to keep pursuing our strategy.”

The Suns still have selections three and 19. They also hope to trade Darcy MacPherson and Will Brodie to open up list places and save salary cap space.