Derek Hine and Collingwood part ways as the AFL club restructures its recruiting department

Collingwood’s long-term list manager Derek Hine has left the club.

After winning the AFL flag in 2023 but totally missing finals this year, the Magpies are undergoing a significant restructure at the top level and Hine is evidently a victim of the changing landscape.

Head of strategy and list management Justin Leppitsch is reshaping his department. And, as reported in The Age, the “tensions between Hine and Leppitsch are well known in recruiting and player management circles”.

The decision on Hine’s exit is said to be “mutual”.

He leaves the club after a whopping 21 years of service, with claims on being the mastermind behind two list builds that netted premierships in 2023 and 2010.

The club also played in grand finals in 2011 and 2018 (missing out on silverware in the latter by just five points) and appeared in nine preliminary finals during the Hine era.

Collingwood greats such as Scott Pendlebury, Dale Thomas and Steele Sidebottom are just some of the famous names that arrived at the club under his watch (he started in the role 2004).

Big American Mason Cox is another notable Hine acquisition, which was considered a risk but certainly paid off with Cox’s stunning performance in the 2018 finals helping the team make it to the decider that year.

Under the recent changes, Collingwood’s football boss Graham Wright has ended up at Carlton after taking a six-month sabbatical.

Brendon Bolton, who had stepped into Wright’s role during that time off, has also left the club and joined St Kilda.

Matthew Boyd, the former Bulldogs champion who was working at Fremantle, has returned to Collingwood’s coaching panel for the 2025 season.

The West Coast Eagles are also restructuring their list management and have moved on three long-serving recruiters.

After decades of service, Trevor Woodhouse, Stephen Nash and Neil Ross will not continue in 2025.

Woodhouse (the club’s former recruiting boss) has been employed as a weekend scout in recent years, while Nash and Ross have been assessing talent while based in Victoria.

“After an assessment of the list management and recruiting structure which was finalised after the recent AFL draft, new roles were identified to progress the club into the next level of data analytics as well as draft strategy and player movement,” new football boss John Worsfold said in a statement.

“Trevor is part of the fabric of the club and has been involved in all four AFL premierships, seven grand finals and countless finals series across 32 years in our recruiting department, where he helped identify champions of our club.”