Collingwood’s general manager of women’s sport, Jane Woodlands-Thompson, is confident the Pies will retain the bulk of their required players for the 2020 AFLW season.
“It’s really speculative at this moment," Woodlands-Thompson told the media on day one of the AFLW trade period.
"We’ve met with all the clubs but not too many details are being swapped at this stage, obviously being day one."
The Pies focussed on recruiting via the draft leading into their 2019 campaign. Now the club will focus on retention.
“We’ve invested a lot in our young talent and we’ve worked really hard with our culture this year," Woodlands-Thompson said.
“We’ve had every indication that our young players are pretty happy with what’s going on and are pretty keen to stay.”
After the dismissal of foundation senior coach Wayne Siekman last week, Woodlands-Thompson noted the search for a new coach will begin immediately, with the aim of finding a replacement within three weeks.
"We’re not rushing it and we’ll make sure we get it right," she said.
"We’ve had many sorts of interests already from many sectors of the football world, which is really exciting."
Expansion clubs (Gold Coast Suns, Richmond, St Kilda, West Coast Eagles) are able to sign up to 12 players.
Expansion clubs can sign no more than four players from any Victorian team, the Adelaide Crows or GWS Giants and no more than eight players from Fremantle or the Brisbane Lions.
All clubs can sign up to three Rookie players. Rookie players are those that have not been listed with any Australian football team for the past three years.
Key dates for the 2019 AFLW Trade and Signing Period:
April 8 – 18: Trade & Signing Period #1 (including expansion signings)
April 23: 2019 NAB AFLW Draft order confirmed
April 23 – 26: Trade & Signing Period #2 (excluding expansion signings)
April 26 – 30: Free Agency
May 3: List Lodgement #1
