Pies get pick as Wellingham goes west

Updated October 09, 2012 20:45:15

Collingwood midfielder Sharrod Wellingham will move to West Coast for the 2013 season after the Magpies confirmed they had traded the 24-year-old.

In return the Pies will receive the Eagles' first-round draft pick, number 17, which gives the club back-to-back selections given it already holds the 18th pick.

Collingwood said in a statement it is the first time the club has had two picks inside the top 20 since 2006.

For their pick the Eagles get 92-gamer Wellingham, who won a flag with the Magpies in 2010 and has played in three grand finals since he was drafted number 10 overall in 2006.

Wellingham grew up in Western Australia and said last week that he was eager to return to his home state and play with the Eagles.

"We wish Sharrod well. He played some good football for the club and shared in a premiership, which is a fine achievement," Collingwood national recruiting manager Derek Hine said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Equally, we're very pleased to have a stronger presence in the national draft.

"It's been some time since we've had this sort of hand to work with. We've got two first round picks on the table."

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, perth-6000, wa, australia, collingwood-3066

First posted October 09, 2012 17:46:27

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Magpies want a big deal for Wellingham

Updated October 05, 2012 13:31:50

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire says the club will need substantial compensation if premiership midfielder Sharrod Wellingham is to get his wish to join West Coast.

The out-of-contract 24-year-old confirmed on Thursday night he wanted to return to his home state of Western Australia and continue his career with the Eagles.

McGuire said he hoped a deal could be done, but that would depend on what the Eagles come up with in return in the official trade period, which starts next Monday.

"He's saying that he might want to go there and now the West Coast Eagles will need to come up with something fairly substantial to get the deal done," McGuire said on Melbourne's Triple M radio on Friday.

"Hopefully things will work out, but that will be everybody coming to their senses and offering decent compensation."

Wellingham has played 92 games for Collingwood since being elevated from their rookie list in 2008.

The midfielder, who grew up barracking for the Eagles, had spent several weeks weighing up whether to stay with the Magpies or return to WA and said family ties as well as the Eagles' premiership prospects swayed his decision.

"I will now go on a break overseas and wait for the two clubs to reach a deal on the terms of my move back home," Wellingham told the Eagles' website.

"It will be exciting to get back to Perth and to play in front of my family every week.

"That was a very strong influence on my decision to leave and I look forward to playing with the Eagles.

"Playing against them, we had enormous respect for West Coast and I believe they have a young list capable of winning a premiership in the next few years."

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, melbourne-3000, vic, perth-6000, wa, australia

First posted October 05, 2012 13:31:50

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Maxwell supports Wellingham ban

Updated March 22, 2012 17:26:02

Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell says the Magpies needed to come down hard on Sharrod Wellingham to uphold their standards.

Wellingham was suspended by the Collingwood leadership group for the first two rounds of the AFL season after drinking alcohol while injured, then missing a rehabilitation session the next morning.

Coming on top of season-ending injuries to forwards Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer and fitness concerns over Maxwell, Chris Tarrant, Alan Didak and Ben Johnson, Wellingham's indiscretion was the last thing Collingwood needed.

"We've got team rules and standards that we want to uphold and he didn't uphold them," Maxwell said on Thursday.

'We expect more from him as an emerging leader at our football club and someone who is really important to us.

"It's not good timing with the situation we've got with injuries and guys unavailable, but we're willing to make sure that the long-term standards of our club are held up.

"Sharrod understands, he knows what he's done wrong, and he took it on the chin well."

The midfielder will miss Collingwood's matches against Hawthorn and Richmond.

Maxwell was optimistic he would recover from his ankle injury in time for the round-one clash with the Hawks, but was not so confident about some of the Magpies' other casualties.

"I'm expecting to play next week, Taz (Tarrant) is still a good chance of playing, Johnno (Johnson) and Didsy (Didak) will both be touch and go," Maxwell said.

"Probably the fact they haven't had match practice will mean they may have to miss round one, so they will be looking to come in the next week."

Maxwell said the Magpies' preseason misfortunes had made things harder for rookie coach Nathan Buckley.

"It's probably been hard on him, but he's handled it really well, and we've always known that we're focused on round one," he said.

"One good thing that has come out of it, is that we're not peaking right now.

"I think last year we were peaking right at the start of the season, early in the season and we sort of fell away towards the end."

AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, collingwood-3066, vic, australia

First posted March 22, 2012 17:26:02

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