query a collection for a page

[Ken in Nashua]

Hi Folks,

I have a page that renders a collection in a grid.

A hibernate collection... 

    @Persist
    @Property
    private Collection collection;

    @SetupRender
    public void setupRender() {
        beanType = PlayerStats.class;
        
        collection = playerStats = new ArrayList(
                      TynamoUTIL.loadCollectionByYearAndLeagueAndSeason(
                           hibernatePersistenceService, 
                           year, league, season, PlayerStats.class));    // I 
know its hoakey for now
        
        grid.reset();
    }

but my getSource is giving me an NPE

    public GridDataSource getSource() {
        return new CollectionGridDataSource(collection);
    }

I thought my properties would be binded by now

    @Property
    @Persist(PersistenceConstants.FLASH)
    private Year year;    
    private ArrayList years;
    
    @Property
    @Persist(PersistenceConstants.FLASH)
    private ELeague league;    
    
    @Property
    @Persist(PersistenceConstants.FLASH)
    private ESeason season;    

Am I doing something wrong ?

Where/How do I query a collection for any given page ?
I thought this was the right way to do this.
Thanks for any tips.