The Magpies added Kyle Martin (Frankston), Sam Dwyer (Port Melbourne), Adam Oxley (Redlands) and Jack Frost (Williamstown) - four players with state league experience - to those they had previously committed to selecting such as Ben Hudson (Brisbane), Peter Yagmoor (redrafted) and Ben Richmond (a previously unlisted AIS basketballer).
View Kyle Martin's VFL highlights on CTV in the video above.
National Recruiting Manager Derek Hine said that the key feature of each of the quartet is their ability to compete at senior level.
“All four players have played senior football and they're all at different levels in terms of their development,” Hine explained to collingwoodfc.com.au.
“We didn't bring them in just to play VFL football, we brought them in because we feel that they're capable of playing senior football. Whether they get there or not is entirely up to them.
“We feel that they're coming into a good system, they will have a lot of support around them, and at the end of the day, the ball's now in their court.”
Hine and his recruiting team gathered around the match committee table at the Westpac Centre on Tuesday morning and participated in the league-wide conference call that was completed within 25 minutes.
“From our side of things, it was just about putting names in a line and the two players that we were locked in on we were very confident they were going to be there. They were I suppose driven more to a needs basis.
“They were Adam Oxley and Jack Frost.”
Derek Hine on Collingwood’s seven new rookies
Kyle Martin
Selection No. 13; H: 182cm; W: 81kg; DOB: 17/9/90
He's a player who didn't play a lot of TAC football but certainly the level he played was an extremely high level. He averaged in the high 20s for disposals for the games that he played. He went back and played at Noble Park (in the Eastern Football League) and he was consistently playing at a high end there. I think he matured as a footballer as he did as a person this year where he was able to cross over to Frankston and have a really consistent year there, averaging 26 possessions as an inside mid. He does push forward and he can take the ball in the air so, mindful of getting some inside support for your Luke Balls and Josh Thomas' of the world - who obviously hasn't played yet - it just gives us a little bit of succession in terms of an inside ball winner.
Sam Dwyer
Selection No. 28; H: 177cm; W: 74kg; DOB: 29/8/86
Sam's been around for a while now. He's 26-years-old. He obviously has been on the cusp now for 2-3 years and we feel that we'd be able to bring in a little bit of pace, someone who would be able to hit the scoreboard, and can play some multiple roles particularly forward of centre. We see him as that wing-mid-forward role. All boys are really terrific characters and we're prepared to give them an opportunity and we're really confident that they're going to take that opportunity.
Adam Oxley
Selection No. 39; H: 190; W: 75kg, Age: 19
Adam was a really well credentialed player coming through the Under-18s for Queensland and probably plateaued a bit after the National Draft but his year with Redlands has been very good. Started forward, predominantly playing that fifth-sixth role, and was able to hit the scoreboard particularly in a game against Mt.Gravatt where I think he kicked seven or eight goals on that particular day. Then they moved him down back where he played that sweeping role across half back, playing on some really well credentialed players for both Gold Coast and Brisbane.
The pleasing thing from our side of things for Adam was there was a real cross-section of players he was playing on, both talls and smalls. He's an elite kick, he's a right footer, so that complements our group in terms of the depth of his kicking and his ability to use the football. The really pleasing thing is he's able to play on both talls and smaller players, so that was a real focus for us and he's already 193cm which gives him an ability to play on both smalls and talls. We see him predominantly playing wing-half back and if he can develop into that role, particularly on a wing, it gives us real power across there with Clinton Young, with one being a right footer and one being a left footer.
So that was the thinking behind Adam, and even if you look at the Queensland boys, we really feel that because of the environment they've come through they're probably two years behind in their development.
Jack Frost
Selection No. 46; H: 194; W: 82kg; DOB: 25/2/92
Jack has had an interrupted two or so years post his junior career. In the second half of this year, in particular, he was just able to really develop quickly and he had a terrific finals playing on well-credentialed players at a VFL level. Given that he had some serious injuries with operations on both hips and so on, he's an extremely athletic player, he's extremely competitive, so that really gives him a chance and it gives us another player who can potentially play on the athletic talls, if you like.
Ben Hudson
Selection No. 52; H: 198cm; W: 105kg; DOB: 24/2/79
We’re looking to put him on as a ruck coach and a mentor for our younger ruckmen in Jarrod Witts and Brodie Grundy in particular, but also with a view to looking at Corey Gault and also Michael Hartley and Ben Richmond because we see Ben potentially being able to play that type of role.?
Peter Yagmoor
Selection No. 54; H: 180cm; W: 82kg; DOB: 20/10/93
Peter (who the Magpies redrafted) was delisted to create room within the salary cap so that we could nominate Ben as a nominated rookie which means that he can play potentially from game one.?
Ben Richmond
Selection No. 56; H: 195cm; Age: 19
Coming from an elite basketball program (at the AIS) he is very professional in all of his training habits and he has very quickly adapted to our systems and processes. Athletically, Ben is an endurance-based athlete with a strong vertical leap where his testing placed him the highest in our senior list testing. Although we haven’t singled out any specific position for Ben, at 195cm, he will potentially provide the scope as a key forward or back.
