Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has revealed that the Pies considered drafting in-form Cat Tyson Stengle in last year's mid-season draft, saying that the club were "really keen" on the small forward.
The 23-year-old has played all 14 games for Geelong so far this season and has been hailed as one of the recruits of the year after an up-and-down three years at Adelaide.
Stengle played 14 games for the Crows during his time on the list, kicking 32 goals. The young forward was originally drafted to Richmond where he made his debut in 2017, only playing two games in yellow and black before being delisted.
Speaking on SEN Mornings, Buckley revealed that the club did their research into the small forward, who at the time was playing for Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL.
“Collingwood did a great deal of due diligence on Stengle and were really keen on looking at him,” Buckley said.
“We had a look at him in the mid-season draft last year.
“I think what Geelong have done really well is worked out that Stengle and Eddie Betts were nearly a tag team. They had to come in together.
“The fruits of that are more than obvious and Stengle looks really settled.
“He looks like he’s got great support. He’s living with him (Betts). He’s thriving and his talent is coming to the fore.”
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Stengle was delisted by the Crows prior to the 2021 AFL season due to off-field incidents, but a reunion with mentor Eddie Betts has seemingly helped the new recruit produce a career best season.
A three-goal performance in Round 15's narrow win over Richmond contributed to his yearly tally of 29, while the young Cat is also averaging 14.4 disposals and 6.6 score involvements per game in 2022.
“The other thing that we often overlook is he’s gone along a journey, and he’s learned from his mistakes,” Buckley continued.
“He’s reached a level of maturity that he didn’t have two years or five years ago, so there is a natural evolution.
“Some people will get there, some people won’t get there, but all credit has to go to him, not just to Geelong.
“It is a little bit of right place, right time for Geelong, but they’ve put the right support mechanisms around the player.
“The player himself is the one that makes the decisions, puts his effort in, gets the reward and then feels like, ‘Wow. I’m on the right path’.
“It’s self-fulfilling and you start putting more effort in, more reward, you buy into it even more, and then you’re off. That’s clearly what it looks like with Stengle.
“I think too quickly we actually give up on talented individuals that are just going through a patch where they’re learning about themselves and understanding what the profession is requiring of them.”
