Top draft hopeful in Power request; Hawks star Day avoids surgery

Request for top draft hopeful to join Port academy

Former Port Adelaide and North Melbourne player Stuart Cochrane has requested that the AFL permits his sons – one of whom is viewed as a potential pick No.1 in future – be allowed to participate in Port’s academy program as he explores what he believes is Indigenous heritage.

Cochrane has written to AFL football boss Laura Kane requesting that his three sons – Tom, Doug and James – be given access to Port’s next generation academy.

In the letter, Cochrane requested that on the basis that he was “exploring [his Indigenous heritage]” his sons would be allowed to participate in the Port NGA program. He told the AFL he believed he had Indigenous heritage on his maternal side from NSW and Victoria around the Riverina region.

Cochrane, who played 54 games for Port after 50 at North Melbourne and worked at the Power as development coach, has not requested that his sons be tied to Port Adelaide in the draft as other players, such as Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, have been.

He has merely asked that they have the opportunity to train and be coached in the academy for multicultural and Indigenous boys and girls.

For the boys, including the highly talented, 194-centimetre Doug, to be tied to Port in the draft on a bidding system the AFL would need to change the zones for NGA players in South Australia to encompass metropolitan areas. The zones are under review. It would be a boon for Port if the AFL expanded the zones to include in the position of the Cochrane sons, who are not eligible as father-sons at North Melbourne or Port Adelaide.

In the past, players have been ruled eligible after making the kind of application that Cochrane has made.

Tom, 18, is eligible for this year’s draft is viewed as potentially draft-worthy but not a high-end pick. Second son Doug, 16, is an outstanding prospect who won the competition medal for best player in the national championships for under-16s.

Hawk Day has eye on finals

Hawthorn star Will Day is battling a fresh injury but is confident of returning in time for the finals, while teammate Jack Scrimshaw has had finger surgery.

Day was taken to hospital on Sunday with what appeared to be a serious collarbone injury during the Hawks’ 63-point win over Richmond at the MCG, but scans showed no break.

However, the silky midfielder had further scans on Monday, revealing that he had suffered a partial dislocation of the joint between his sternum and his collarbone.

The seventh-placed Hawks face North Melbourne in Launceston on Saturday where they can lock in a September berth, and appear almost certain to play in an elimination final in less than three weeks.

Day, with his right arm in a sling, said he was confident of returning this season.

“Definitely, yeah. Always look at the positive side. I am hoping to get back out there,” Day told Seven on Monday night.

Coach Sam Mitchell said the specialist had said surgery was not required, but Day will visit another specialist on Tuesday.

Day, the Hawks’ reigning club best and fairest, was subbed off in the first term on Sunday, having collided with teammate Jai Newcombe in a contest in the centre of the ground. He left the ground immediately.

He is desperate to feature in what would be the club’s first finals campaign in six years.

“They are pretty special. Since I have been at the club, finals hasn’t been on the cards at all. We have put in a lot of work, so I am really excited about the prospect of it. But there’s another week to get done,” Day said.

Mitchell said Scrimshaw, an important defender, had undergone surgery on Monday, but should be fit to face the Kangaroos.

“He popped his finger and the reason why it is a bit worse, it came out of the skin. It wasn’t too great for anyone that was sitting around the bench at the time [on Sunday],” Mitchell told Fox Footy.

“But he had a bit of a clean-out operation, not under a general anaesthetic or anything, so we are hopeful he will be available for this weekend.”

Wright quits Collingwood

Collingwood football boss Graham Wright has quit the club and will not return from an extended vacation to resume his position.

The Magpies have confirmed that Wright, one of the most respected officials in football, had resigned on Monday morning. The club is working through how he will be replaced and how they structure their football department.

Wright, whose departure from the Pies is not a shock, has discussed taking on a job with the AFL but could also be a target for the incoming Tasmanian team or other clubs.

Wright had offered to resign when he took an extended break earlier this year, to travel in Europe and America with his wife. But Collingwood persuaded him to take leave rather than leave outright and remodelled the football department with upgraded roles for assistant coaches Brendon Bolton and Justin Leppitsch.

Collingwood president Jeff Browne had been in discussions with Wright to keep him in a role at the club but the veteran administrator, a member of Collingwood’s 1990 premiership team, opted to leave.

Wright was the driver behind Craig McRae’s appointment as coach in late 2021, following an in-depth process that identified McRae as the best fit for the Magpies alongside former senior coaches Leppitsch (Brisbane Lions) and Bolton (Carlton).

In Wright’s absence, Leppitsch took on a role that involved list management and strategy having been offered a position at the Western Bulldogs.

Bolton went from being an assistant coach to a general manager of football role.

Club and industry sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Leppitsch was likely to continue in a list management position in the new structure, while the football manager role is less certain and the Pies are more likely to go to market for an outside candidate.

Wright previously worked at Hawthorn, where he built his reputation first as a list manager during the Hawks’ highly successful period under Alastair Clarkson, and then as general manager of football.

He crossed to Collingwood following the Pies’ contentious fire sale of 2020 in which Adam Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson and Tom Phillips were traded out to relieve a then-bursting salary cap.

Wright was behind the acquisitions of key recruits Bobby Hill, Dan McStay, Tom Mitchell and Patrick Lipinski, all of whom played a role in Collingwood’s rise in 2022 when they lost by a point in a preliminary final, and their flag win in 2023.

He presided over the offloading of star ruckman Brodie Grundy to Melbourne and further repair of Collingwood’s player payments, to the point that they have significant room in the salary cap in the future.

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