It’s not difficult to mount a case for Collingwood allowing Brayden Maynard to leave and take up an excessively generous offer from another club, for the benefit of all parties.
Maynard would get significantly more money than he’s on at Collingwood, over a term of at least four years, should he exercise his free agency rights and walk.
Brayden Maynard is a heart-and-soul figure at the Pies.Credit: AFL Photos
Collingwood, who have depleted their draft capital to dangerously low levels, would gain a decent compensation pick, potentially at the end of the first round or perhaps even a first-rounder (albeit Maynard is 28 years old, not 26).
The Magpies would be taking one of the first steps of a necessary list regeneration, as a slew of veterans exit, and opening up cap space.
The new club would be gaining a flexible defender with unusual aggression, a powerful left boot and a devoted teammate, who knows the contours of a successful environment.
North Melbourne are one of the main suitors for Collingwood’s robust defender, though they have not tabled him an offer and aren’t looking at a term as long as six years.
North aren’t the only club with Maynard on their list of targets. He will appeal to a few emerging teams who lack a touch of sinister sauce in their line-up.
He would suit Adelaide down to the ground, and potentially Essendon, Gold Coast and maybe the Bulldogs. Talks between Maynard’s management and Collingwood have paused for a few weeks.
We can rule out Melbourne from contention for Maynard, given the vexed history of the Angus Brayshaw incident from the 2023 finals (despite his father Peter’s service to the Demons, as player and official); those of red-and-blue hue would be storming the Long Room in the MCC (a Range Rover riot?).
The Pies have a busload of half-back flankers, having just landed the silky Dan Houston from Port Adelaide, and half-back/defensive midfielder Harry Perryman (from the Giants) on hefty contracts.
One can see how Maynard would appeal to Alastair Clarkson, in particular, in a competition that has fewer “unsociable” players than in Clarkson’s formative years at Hawthorn; he would stiffen the defence, fall on metaphoric grenades for teammates, and provide ballast to a team with few mature leaders, as the Roos dispense with a perennial rebuild and demand results.
Maynard with Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury.Credit: AFL Photos
Maynard’s brother, Corey, happens to work at North, too.
So, there’s compelling logic for letting “Bruz” leave the club that helped transform him from a young man with self-acknowledged behavioural issues (“I was hanging out with the wrong people”) to a serious, dependable footballer.
If you measured Maynard’s output, relative to his prospective cost, Collingwood’s position in the premiership cycle, and what they would gain in return, logic would dictate that he goes.
But Maynard’s worth goes beyond the ranking numbers that clubs use to assess players, and which Collingwood’s new list boss Justin Leppitsch has deployed for recruiting and contracting.
In short, what value do you place on the intangible impact of a teammate who’s beloved by teammates, and whose absence would be keenly felt in the locker room? He is not at Glenn Archer’s station, but he’s that type of character.
Is that cultural value worth the extra year or $100,000 to $150,000 a season it would cost to keep him? Is it sufficient to sacrifice a handy draft pick for a playing group that’s older than Methuselah?
The Maynard decision, thus, has much more riding on it than a tough half-back flanker coming or going.
Maynard going toe-to-toe with star Demon Kysaiah Pickett.Credit: Getty Images
At its core, Maynard’s call implicitly asks how ruthless clubs – and players – have become in their willingness to maximise returns, without resorting to old-fashioned verities like “playing for each other.”
Maynard, I gather, does not wish to leave. He would likely find the move emotionally wrenching, based on what people who know him say.
Collingwood’s position appears to be pragmatic. They would know that, ideally, some player with draft value should leave this year. If not Maynard, then who? Bobby Hill – subject to speculation about a move home – would also sting.
“If a club comes at Brayden, and we do our very best, whatever we can do to get in front of him, our very best with (manager) Tommy Petroro and ‘Bruzzy’ to show him our love, financially, and within our TPP,” said Collingwood chief executive Craig Kelly nine days ago.
“But if someone desperately wants him, and wants to pay him a heap more for a longer period of time, everyone should be going, ‘Good luck mate’ if that opportunity’s there. We’d love you to be here, we want you to be here, but that is something the industry’s gotta get its head around … so let them have the opportunity to max it out, but we’ll do everything within our power to keep him at our club.”
Some rival clubs interpreted Kelly’s comments as an attempt to condition fans for the prospect of Maynard leaving.
I read Kelly differently, viewing the CEO’s comments as an attempt to explain to fans – Collingwood’s mostly – how the system has shifted, and that there will be losses and gains in a more liberal market in which free agency has changed not just the rules, but the mores. He was trying to put Maynard’s choice in context – that the game is more cold-blooded on player movement.
Kelly formerly ran TGI – the management company that handles a large chunk of AFL players, including Maynard – and acutely understands how the times are a changing.
Have they changed to the point that a player who doesn’t want to leave, who personifies “heart and soul” will get up and leave, taking bigger bucks and with the blessing of his beloved first club?
Craig McRae will find it far harder to lose Maynard than Brodie Grundy, and it will evoke more feeling in the locker room – and cheer squad – than when Adam Treloar was shoved.
A key difference, though, is that this will be Maynard’s call.
As Collingwood and Maynard prepare for the dance of negotiations, it’s worth asking this question: If Brayden Maynard can leave his club as a free agent, who couldn’t?
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