Graham Wright - General Manager of Football

[Jezza]

He's entitled to a well-earned break, especially off the back of a Premiership.
Wrighty's been arguably the busiest person at the club in the last two years having overseen list management (and fixing the salary cap issues) and appointing Fly back in 2021 amongst other things.

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Well earnt break.
As long as Collingwood as a whole can maintain the rage and win the premiership again in 2024.
It will be a big challenge i feel with out his services
As said next man up.

[lazzadesilva]

[inxs88]

When both Ned Guy left (ummmm pushed out), Mark Anderson quit and Geoff Walsh came and went from an AFL gig for the 20th time, Wrighty immersed himself in their portfolios. His workload over the last 3 years have been the heaviest of any Club counterpart and deserves a break.

I just hope that this 6 months gives him a bout of energy to go hard for another 5 years and there is no underlying issue we don't know about.

[piedys]

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

By the way yes well earnt break but why 6 months why cant he go on his break now and come back mid season say in june that 6 months isnt it.
Go now Wright come back in June.
Enjoy you break time off wright but go now so you dont miss months july-september.

[RudeBoy]

If he needs a break, then so be it. He certainly deserves it. However, I just hope he comes back. His has been the single most important appointment to our club for decades imho.

[lazzadesilva]

[swoop42]

It's certainly an unusual situation with Wright and if we hadn't won the Premiership I'm not sure if we'd all be so forgiving but we did win it and if having 6 months off now means Wright is refreshed and prepared to commit to Collingwood long term upon his return then it'll be worth it.
In reality Wright joined us as general manager of football but had to take on dual roles once Guy wasn't retained as list manager.
He was a driving force behind the recruitment of McRae and was also the architect of us landing McStay, Mitchell, Hill and Frampton at the end of 2022. We secured Schultz this off season.
Given the added workload and responsibility he has taken on since his arrival and that it culminated in the 2023 Premiership it's hard to argue he hasn't earned the right to ask for us to accommodate his and his wifes wishes.
With experienced AFL people like Kelly, Browne, Hine, McRae, Leppitsch and Bolton all within our football club I feel we're well placed to cover for Wright during his sabbatical.

[WhyPhilWhy?]

A well earned break to refresh and be ready to land the big fish in the 2024 trade period.

[LaurieHolden]

While Graham Wright’s responsibilities will be shared - it’s Brendon Bolton who will predominantly be taking his place as football boss.
Hayden Skipworth will fill Bolton’s role as a more senior assistant.
Wright’s sabbatical begins in early March.

https://twitter.com/xandermcg9/status/1747825718862762463?t=sD1ZyRnAmOrGOSiZp5ybnw&s=19

[Take_a_Screamer]

Inside the Pies’ plan to defend their flag without one of their key men
By Peter Ryan and Michael Gleeson, January 26, 2024

When Collingwood football manager Graham Wright decided he wanted to spend this football season travelling in the northern hemisphere with his wife Tracey, it was possible it would mean the end of his time at the Magpies. Indeed, it was likely.

Historically, AFL clubs have not accommodated such sabbaticals but for Wright and his wife, who had the idea for such a trip in their heads since his final year at Hawthorn in 2020 during COVID-19, it was a case of now or never. “We’ve talked about it for a long, long time,” Wright said in December when announcing the decision.

Wright informed his old teammate and now CEO Craig Kelly and president Jeff Browne that he had decided that with the Magpies having won the premiership, the time was right for that long-delayed family break. The Magpie leaders were loath to lose such a highly valued staff member and, with Browne’s strong endorsement, explored creative ways to retain him. What followed was an agreement that suited both parties, allowing Wright to take the break he wanted while still having him available, albeit long-distance, through the season to bounce ideas off. A job would still be there for him when he returned.

“We want senior leaders at Collingwood to have a work-life balance and be open to new ways of doing things. It’s great that ‘Wrighty’ has this opportunity,” Kelly told The Age. Kelly knows as well as anyone the demands that the football industry places on its participants and is determined to keep good people at the Magpies, unafraid to step outside convention to find a better way.

The club’s decision showed the esteem in which Wright is held and the impact he has had at Collingwood since he arrived in 2021 to lead the club through dramatic change to the 2023 premiership. It also indicated where the Pies are at as they attempt to go back-to-back for the first time in their history since 1935-36, and how different that position is to when Wright arrived, aking 2024 the best year to take a break after a lifetime of winters at the footy. The Magpies enter 2024 as the defending premiers, and with key players – Jordan De Goey, Darcy Moore, and Nick and Josh Daicos – contracted and locked away on long-term deals that Wright struck. The most recent re-signings were the six-year deals for the Daicos brothers finalised last August. Coach Craig McRae also has a long-term contract.

Players out of contract this year are either emerging, or senior players in the twilight who are on rolling short-term deals. The Magpies don’t have a first-round pick in the draft, but their salary cap is in good shape after a reconstruction process that started with the brave – and previously maligned – moves made by former list manager Ned Guy under Geoff Walsh as footy head that Wright then built upon. The appointment of the then low-profile, respected but unheralded McRae to steer the Magpies as coach was a critical decision recommended by Wright and the selection panel and ratified by the board.

But that makes filling the gap difficult as Wright has been a profoundly valuable and influential recruit to the Magpies. Collingwood are one of the few AFL clubs where the head of football is also list manager, underlining Wright’s importance, and means the club effectively needs to cover two roles from the one absence.

The exact details of how the club will manage the sabbatical are still being worked through, with two club insiders not authorised to speak publicly saying there have been many pre-season meetings at Collingwood HQ to ensure the effect of Wright’s absence is minimised. Kelly is confident the football department can cover Wright’s duties, and the club has also created a safety net by appointing Wright as a consultant during the winter when key decisions are to be made. “We have people working across a range of areas that will be able to fulfil Wrighty’s duties while he takes a well-earned break,” Kelly said.

Ensuring he is just a phone call away will not only help everyone in black and white sleep a bit easier, it shows the important role football managers with wisdom, experience and contacts play at modern football clubs. The coaching staff in 2024 might have new titles, but the names remain the same and apart from the departure of respected welfare boss Chris Dixon there has been little change between seasons in supporting McRae, which means there is familiarity with personnel and their strengths. Brendon Bolton had already moved to a loosely defined position called director of coaching, learning and leadership, and he is expected to take on some football management responsibilities, while Clare Pettyfor will expand her duties in her football administration role.

McRae will focus on coaching while Justin Leppitsch’s director of strategy and innovation title lends itself to having broader input. Leppitsch’s discussions with the Western Bulldogs about a football administration role before he decided to stick with the Magpies for 2024 indicated his interest in that side of football. Kelly said nothing is set in stone and titles weren’t relevant, but said the coaching element of Bolton’s role would be retained. He did not want to engage in the details but was positive about discussions with key staff.

“We have had discussions with ‘Bolts’ [Bolton] and we also have Clare, ‘Leppa’ [Leppitsch], ‘Fly’ (McRae), myself and others within the football department,” Kelly said. Although Wright’s cool head in the coach’s box and during the ebb and flow of a season is sure to be missed, his experience and judgment in list management, built up over 20 years with the Brisbane Lions, Hawthorn and then Collingwood, is the most difficult element of his skill set to replace with existing personnel. Recruiting manager Derek Hine is a superb talent spotter, his selections playing key roles in both the 2010 and 2023 flags, and alongside Wright, the Magpies have made astute list management decisions, such as bringing in Bobby Hill who won the Norm Smith Medal last season. Wright has been pivotal in the list management decisions which resulted in Brodie Grundy’s exit while they recruited Hill, Dan McStay, Tom Mitchell and Billy Frampton last off-season and selected eventual premiership player Oleg Markov as a supplementary list selection in February last year. They were able to bring in small forward Lachie Schultz in last year’s trade period while losing Taylor Adams to Sydney and moving Jack Ginnivan on to Hawthorn.

The success last year of their 2022 trade haul – decisions that many questioned at the time – and their keenness to keep adding players post-premiership showed Wright’s importance as list manager. Kelly has strong experience in player management, and Hine a good eye for talent as well as extensive industry relationships, so both are expected to keep the list management committee active to pursue opportunities. The announcement, made just before Christmas, meant Wright’s absence has not been much of an external focus as injuries to key players. But the discussions at the Magpies about who does what will become more pointed now as only six weeks remain before the opening round when Collingwood play the Giants and Wright flies to America.

If Wright returns – as planned – on September 4 with the Magpies well-placed for another finals series, it will be due to the preparations and conversations happening at the AIA Centre right now. “A lot of the work that has been done in the past few years with the leaders of the club and the leaders in the football department has made the decision [to take a break] that bit easier,” Wright said in December.

“We feel like we have got the right people [to handle things].”

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/inside-the-pies-plan-to-defend-their-flag-without-one-of-their-key-men-20240126-p5f084.html

[joemamone@gmail.com]

The team's performance seems to have coincided with the absence of the team's "real leader". I am pleased that Wright has take a well deserved break, but I wonder whether his absence has not created an atmosphere (though subconsciously of complacency) that all is good and in place for success. Why else would he feel comfortable taking 6 months off!! It has always been understood that success in any field permeates from the top down. Just a thought.

[Johnno75]

He actually stated that he needed the time off and even offered his resignation to Craig Kelly who was the one that said no we need you so go away and come back and resume your role.
Craig Kelly has taken a bit of the workload but it sounds like Bolton has taken a lot more responsibility and Leppa less which he is displeased about. There seems to be a little friction there so we will see how that plays out during the season.

[Mr Miyagi]

FFS there are disagreements at most clubs. This is muckraking. And **** Melbourne for poaching Petty and making Collingwood the headline to distract from their drug culture problem.

https://wwos.nine.com.au/videos/afl/afl-news-2024-there-are-tensions-between-key-figures-at-collingwood-in-graham-wrights-absence-as-brendan-bolton-steps-up/clu066efn000s0gqw6yi66xro