COLLINGWOOD is confident the influx of youth into its squad since its premiership win can help it stay atop the AFL tree.
The Magpies have made 13 changes to their list since the end of the season and that number - the equal most along with Hawthorn - is more remarkable given Mick Malthouse's side proved itself the pick of the bunch in 2010.
The large turnover has meant plenty of work for Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine during trade week, and the national and rookie drafts.
But the man who helped build the Pies' current crop believes his club has come through what may have proved a testing time in good shape.
"The pleasing thing for us, I think with our list, is it's in a state where it's really balanced," Hine told collingwoodfc.com.au.
"We feel we've come through this period quite well [and] we're confident with all of the boys we've brought in.
"We're a very young team. We went through it the other day and we've made 13 changes which is quite substantial for a team that's just won the premiership.
"But we're really confident in that next group of players that are going to come up underneath the boys that have gone out."
Gone are experienced names like Tarkyn Lockyer, Josh Fraser, Paul Medhurst, John Anthony and Simon Prestigiacomo, to name a few.
"With those players going out, we now look at that next tier of players to come through and it's very, very important that we get games into those players to continue our development," Hine said.
"When you look at our list, we've got 75 per cent of our list will play at either 23 years of age or younger in 2011.
"So that gives us a lot of confidence in terms of the development of the group and the opportunities."
The list was completed on Tuesday when the Pies drafted five rookies.
Collingwood fans will hope Hine again weaved his magic and one of those selected goes on to premiership glory like former rookies Harry O'Brien, Jarryd Blair and, the biggest of all, skipper Nick Maxwell.
Hine said the club had a focus on taller players in the rookie draft after concentrating more on utility and midfielder types in the national draft.
Before the national drafts, the club had secured developing ruckman John Ceglar as well as key defender Chris Tarrant and midfielder Andrew Krakouer during trade week.
This was all part of Hine's balancing of the list, and meticulous long-term planning.
It was during this trade period the recruiter hopes the Pies may have netted one of the bargains of the off-season.
"Andrew Krakouer is obviously an experienced player and I think it's without dispute that he was easily the most-credentialled player outside the AFL system in 2010," he said.
"We were able to bring him in and we've been delighted with Andrew's training and the way that he's really attacked his training and his introduction back into the AFL."
