Tom, 18, is eligible for this year’s draft is viewed as potentially draft-worthy but not a high-end pick. Second son Doug, 16, is an outstanding prospect who won the competition medal for best player in the national championships for under-16s.

Wright quits Collingwood

Collingwood football boss Graham Wright has quit the club and will not return from an extended vacation to resume his position.

The Magpies have confirmed that Wright, one of the most respected officials in football, had resigned on Monday morning. The club is working through how he will be replaced and how they structure their football department.

Wright, whose departure from the Pies is not a shock, has discussed taking on a job with the AFL but could also be a target for the incoming Tasmanian team or other clubs.

Wright had offered to resign when he took an extended break earlier this year, to travel in Europe and America with his wife. But Collingwood persuaded him to take leave rather than leave outright and remodelled the football department with upgraded roles for assistant coaches Brendon Bolton and Justin Leppitsch.

Collingwood president Jeff Browne had been in discussions with Wright to keep him in a role at the club but the veteran administrator, a member of Collingwood’s 1990 premiership team, opted to leave.

Wright was the driver behind Craig McRae’s appointment as coach in late 2021, following an in-depth process that identified McRae as the best fit for the Magpies alongside former senior coaches Leppitsch (Brisbane Lions) and Bolton (Carlton).

In Wright’s absence, Leppitsch took on a role that involved list management and strategy having been offered a position at the Western Bulldogs.

Bolton went from being an assistant coach to a general manager of football role.

Club and industry sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Leppitsch was likely to continue in a list management position in the new structure, while the football manager role is less certain and the Pies are more likely to go to market for an outside candidate.

Wright previously worked at Hawthorn, where he built his reputation first as a list manager during the Hawks’ highly successful period under Alastair Clarkson, and then as general manager of football.

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He crossed to Collingwood following the Pies’ contentious fire sale of 2020 in which Adam Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson and Tom Phillips were traded out to relieve a then-bursting salary cap.

Wright was behind the acquisitions of key recruits Bobby Hill, Dan McStay, Tom Mitchell and Patrick Lipinski, all of whom played a role in Collingwood’s rise in 2022 when they lost by a point in a preliminary final, and their flag win in 2023.

He presided over the offloading of star ruckman Brodie Grundy to Melbourne and further repair of Collingwood’s player payments, to the point that they have significant room in the salary cap in the future.

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