Collingwood’s gutted recruiting department has suffered another blow after their talent ID manager quit, choosing to leave for West Coast instead of accepting a promotion at the Pies.
It leaves the club poised to enter the season with their football department in a state of flux for a second successive season.
Collingwood have lost another recruiter.Credit: AFL Photos
Three sources with knowledge of the situation, who did not want to be named in order to speak freely, said the club had offered Adam Shepard a role as replacement for Derek Hine. They then planned to appoint another person to work as the talent ID manager.
But Shepard told the club this week instead that he would take a similar role at West Coast.
Hine, who oversaw the recruitment of players for Collingwood’s last two premiership teams, departed just months ago. Shepard had been hired into recruiting at Collingwood by Hine, who had mentored him and with whom Shepard remained close.
Shepard had been with Collingwood since 2012 and was highly regarded at the club he had followed all his life.
The move leaves Collingwood without a head of recruiting or deputy head. Only Shannon Collins, who moved from football operations manager into the recruiting department a little over a year ago, remains on the full-time recruiting staff.
Collingwood appointed former Brisbane Lions player and senior coach Justin Leppitsch as permanent list manager towards the end of last season. He had been working as an assistant coach prior to last season and had worked as a list manager before he was appointed to act in the position during the absence of Graham Wright last year.
Last season the Magpies went through the year without a permanent general manager of football or list manager after Wright – who combined both roles – quit the club but was then persuaded by then president Jeff Browne and the board to take six months’ leave and return to the club.
Wright ultimately did not return to the club and has now been appointed to an executive role at Carlton as part of a succession plan to replace Blues CEO Brian Cook at the end of this year.
The Magpies struggled to find a new permanent general manager of football last year before finally securing respected former Sydney football boss Charlie Gardiner just before Christmas.
Shepard joins the Eagles after they made wholesale changes to their recruiting department at the end of last year, with three long-term staff leaving. The Eagles appointed former Richmond recruiting manager Matthew Clarke as list manager last year.
The Collingwood moves come as Richmond also announced last week they had “unleashed the Giesch” for a second time with Rhy Gieschen, the son of former Tigers coach Jeff, appointed as recruiting manager.
“Unleash the Giesch” famously became the catchphrase at Richmond when they appointed caretaker coach Jeff Gieschen as the new senior coach to replace Robert Walls. Rhy is also the brother of Nick, who is a respected senior player manager with Connors Sports.
Rhy Gieschen had joined Richmond’s recruiting department in 2023 as Victorian recruiting manager. He also worked in talent and operational roles at the AFL, AFL Coaches Association, AFL Victoria, and the Northern Knights. He was first 18 coach and director of football at Melbourne Grammar for two years after leaving the Northern Knights.
He fills the position of Chris Toce, who died last year after battling for months with an aggressive form of cancer.
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