Collingwood reportedly poaching Port Adelaide footy boss

Collingwood has allegedly made contact with Chris Davies, the general manager of football at Port Adelaide, to succeed Graham Wright, the team’s current football manager.

Caroline Wilson of Channel Nine’s Footy Classified broke the story on Monday night, outlining the issues that the Collingwood football team has been dealing with since winning the 2023 Premiership.

The club has gone through a turbulent time at the board level since last September, when chairman Jeff Browne revealed his possible intention to retire, there were suspicions of a split with CEO Craig Kelly, and Graham Wright took an extended leave of absence, with speculation about his departure.

“Melbourne has come along, and Collingwood are very lucky,” Wilson stated on Footy Classified.

“If I were to predict that, following the premiership last year, the CEO would be under investigation for a workplace incident, the chairman would announce his resignation in a matter of months, and the head of football would take a year off and never return. You would remark, “What a fall from grace,” because Justin Leppitsch, the person they put in charge of the list, would be at odds with recruitment.

“We know that Jeff Brown and his board are running the recruitment to try and reset the footy department… we can report tonight that the Port Adelaide football boss, Chris Davies has been approached by the Collingwood board to take over as head of footy.”

Kane Cornes emphasised that Port Adelaide’s football manager, Chris Davies, is content at Port Adelaide despite being noticed by other teams besides Collingwood.

Davies is South Australian, so the lure of Collingwood, Australia’s most well-known sports team, might not cause him to reconsider his future goals, but it’s still a fantastic chance.

The Power are expected to avoid the conversation, particularly as they get ready for a possible premiership run and focus on Thursday night’s home qualifying final matchup against Geelong.

Collingwood is under increasing pressure as the board comes under increasing scrutiny and the team’s roster enters a turning point, with many experienced players to celebrate but not enough intriguing new players to support Nick Daicos.

If Craig McRae and Collingwood want to reach the September peak once more in 2025, this off-season will be crucial for recruiting, both at the draft and free agency tables.