Collingwood Cuts Six Players in List Reset
Collingwood has wasted no time reshaping its list after the 2026 season, cutting six players including former second-round pick Jakob Ryan and ex-cricketer Wil Parker in a sharp statement on the club’s next phase.
The Magpies confirmed Ryan, Parker, Lachie Sullivan, mid-season draftee Mitch Podhajski, defender Joel Cochran and ruckman Iliro Smit have all been delisted as list boss Justin Leppitsch starts to clear space for the next wave.
Player Departures
For Parker, it brings to a close one of the more intriguing recent stories at the club. The former Victoria cricketer crossed to football as a Category B rookie and squeezed every drop out of the experiment, playing 14 AFL games across three seasons. His journey from the crease to the Sherrin ends without fanfare, but with genuine respect inside the walls.
Ryan’s exit carries a different sting. Taken at pick No.28 in the 2022 draft, the defender looked a long-term investment when Collingwood called his name. He managed just a single senior appearance, in 2023, before slipping behind in a side hunting – and defending – premiership success. Talent never guarantees opportunity in a stacked list; Ryan has learned that the hard way.
Sullivan’s departure underlines that same reality. The hard-working midfielder has 26 senior games to his name, yet only two came this year as others jumped ahead of him in Craig McRae’s pecking order. For a depth player on a contender, the margin for error is brutally thin.
Podhajski’s time at the top level was short but sharp. Plucked in May’s mid-season draft as a mature-ager, he was thrown into the senior side twice and offered a glimpse of his versatility before the club opted to move in a different direction.
Cochran and Smit never cracked the AFL side. Cochran, taken with pick 47 in the 2024 draft, and Smit, another mid-season recruit, toiled in the VFL system without hearing their names called on the big stage. Their stories are familiar in modern football: months of unseen work, no guarantees, and sometimes no breakthrough.
Leppitsch paid tribute to the group as the club made the decisions public.
“On behalf of everyone at Collingwood, we would like to sincerely thank Joel, Wil, Mitch, Jakob, Iliro and Lachie for their dedication and contribution to our Football Club,” he said. “Each of them has played an important role across both our AFL and VFL programs, and they should be incredibly proud of the commitment, professionalism and character they have shown throughout their time in black and white.”
The human cost is obvious. Six careers in black and white halted in one sweep. Yet this is the ruthless edge of list management in an era of tight lists, rolling drafts and a constant push for improvement.
Collingwood now has room to move. Picks to use. Spots to sell to the next group of hopefuls walking through the AIA Centre doors, chasing the same dream that has just slipped away from six of their predecessors.
