Mark Robinson: Collingwood trade drama not a fire sale but an inside arson job
There is little doubt Nathan Buckley is central to the decisions to dump three players and his empathetic side appears to have gone missing in recent weeks.
Mark Robinson
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Not for the first time, the football world is looking at Nathan Buckley and Eddie McGuire and questioning the operations of one of the country’s great sporting clubs.
This time it’s different.
This time, it’s Collingwood fans looking at the club the most fervently, clearly confused and angry about how a list management group, football department and board of directors found themselves in such a wretched position.
The Trump-like support McGuire has from the rusted-on Collingwood folk might not be so rusted on after the previous 24 hours.
This wasn’t a fire sale, this was an inside arson job.
And now there’s claims of lies being told.
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A thorough review of what’s played out is the very least members should demand.
But there’s a catch: How can the board review the salary cap debacle when it was the board, presumably, who approved the mega deals for Adam Treloar, Brodie Grundy and Dayne Beams, for example, in the first place?
Who puts their hand up for this crisis?
Although it must be said the Pies’ media strategy is to deny it’s a crisis, rather it’s the execution of a well-thought-out plan to improve the list.
If that’s true and list manager Ned Guy tried his darnedest — and struggled — to argue exactly that on Fox Footy on Thursday night, then it’s a bizarre plan from afar.
The Herald Sun on Friday put in a request to speak to head of football Geoff Walsh and was told he was unavailable.
Walsh did speak to Triple M on Friday morning where, it must be noted, he was interviewed by McGuire.
The Pies couldn’t have planned it any better and certainly there were no curlies from the prez to his senior footy staffer.
The fans are furious and disillusioned.
Social media is alight with hate speech.
They believe they’re not being told the full truth.
Many of them will cop mistakes, but they refuse to cop being spun to.
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In some ways, they feel betrayed when the club begged them to stick fat with their money through this COVID season.
McGuire might not be in the hot seat at Triple M for too much longer, but he certainly is sitting in a hot one at Collingwood headquarters.
Firstly, he will be required to placate the members and fans with reasons why the salary cap looked like a shirt on Fat Albert and why Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson and less so Tom Phillips find themselves at rival clubs and the club is paying two of them for the courtesy.
To think Collingwood might be paying Treloar upwards of a million dollars to play for the Bulldogs for the next five years, is truly a mind boggling decision.
How did this all start?
HOW BEAMS TRADE BACKFIRED
The obvious and most recent list management muck up was the recruitment of Dayne Beams. His initial contract was in the vicinity of $800,000 and cost the club two-first round picks. That’s as big a trade blunder this century.
It forced the club to back-end deals, including Treloar, which has come back to bite them.
That and overpaying players such as Stephenson and Phillips, estimated to have been earning between $500,000 and $600,000 each.
The mind boggles at what they’re paying Darcy Moore, who was recently re-signed, what they are about to pay Jordan De Goey and what they pay seasoned great players such as Jeremy Howe and Steele Sidebottom who deserve good coin.
Internally, McGuire might also have a morale issue with some of his staff. They talk. And they say it’s an unhappy place.
The ol’ McGuire side-by-side speech about sticking together might need to be more sincere and passionate this time round — to the staff and the players.
Former coach Mick Malthouse said: “One of the things Collingwood has stood for right through its days is side-by-side and what you stand for is what you’ve got to live.
“If you don’t live what your motto is, then somewhere there is a breakdown.’’
HEAT ON BUCKS
Buckley is in the middle of it all.
Those who say they are in the know say Buckley has in recent weeks misplaced the care and empathy gene which was the foundation of the transformational Bucks which came to the fore midway through 2017.
That he has become clinical, if not ruthless.
Make no mistake, he is central to the decisions to dump three players.
If it’s not a salary dump, as Collingwood has said, then Buckley simply wanted to get rid of them.
If it is salary dump, then he was part of deciding who gets the flick.
He posted on Twitter: “The decisions aren’t popular, but they were necessary.’’
It’s been very messy, in particular the Treloar departure.
The Pies extended him for five years last year and ran him out the door this year.
And they have admitted the decision by Treloar’s partner, Kim Ravaillion, to move to Queensland next year to play netball was the catalyst for the trade.
But, but, but …. that if she didn’t go north, Treloar likely wouldn’t have been traded.
So, chasing dreams for the woman killed dreams for the man.
Treloar’s mental health and the Pies’ belief he would struggle without Ravaillion and their daughter Georgie can’t be ignored, but despite Treloar’s assurances he’d be OK, the Pies thought otherwise.
It was about this time, some media types started reporting Treloar was a “high maintenance” player, which clearly was a planted narrative from Collingwood.
It’s curious because he wasn’t high maintenance when they agreed to a five-year extension at 900 large 12 months earlier.
And that came after the Pies tried to ship him to the Suns, but Treloar said no.
Anyone else confused?
Treloar’s friends say they hope the full story is told and Treloar’s manager Tim Hazell has said it’s up to Treloar to tell his side of the story.
On Friday, the new Bulldog confirmed Buckley told him in “no uncertain ways’’, that some senior players wanted him out of the club.
Buckley has denied he said that.
It’s far from a clean kill from Collingwood.
‘YOU’VE GOT TO GET IT RIGHT’
The Stephenson situation is less messy, but hardly ideal.
He clipped the club for him actually having to ring Buckley to find out if he’s being shopped and then Walsh clipped Stephenson back on radio.
He’s a talent, the kid, but talent isn’t everything.
The once confident, cocky forward became a jittery, stumbling liability, which came on the back of serious stupidity the year before when he bet on games.
In the end, Buckley lost faith in him as did some of his teammates if you believe the rumours. So, if the salary dump was in play and the coach had gone cold, Stephenson was always a goner.
Malthouse knows about dealing with departing players and doing it right and said he was not automatically siding with the version of events offered by Treloar and Stephenson.
“I know players hear what they want to hear and it’s not always what exactly was said,” Malthouse said.
“But nonetheless, if there’s a problem with salary cap, a problem with the way people play, if there’s a problem generally, then there’s only one way to deal with it and that’s behind closed doors with that player
“That could’ve happened, I don’t know. But if it didn’t happen, that’s what has got to happen. You’ve got to get it right.
“You’re not going to be Mr Popularity as a coach, but what you’ve got to be, and as a football club, you’ve got to be professional. When you take someone in that door, you want them to leave that place with good memories.’’
Malthouse is surprised by the events which have taken place.
“I’m surprised at the severity of it, I’m surprised at the numbers. If Mason Cox had a suitor, he was gone as well.
“We all knew about Phillips last year because he was on the market last year, as was Cox.
“I knew they were in trouble with the salary cap because they kept Brodie Mihocek as a rookie for so long.
“You didn’t have to be blind Freddie to know the financials when you’re a heart and soul player and leading goalkicker was still a rookie up until this year.
“There’s a lot of things we don’t about Stephenson, but I don’t think you sign a bloke for a couple of years and all of a sudden he disappears after one bad year.’’
He said the trade decisions were business decisions, but football clubs were not solely businesses.
“The business side is coteries, sponsorships and the league and all that stuff, but the rest is about human frailties, human nature, love of your teammate, love of your club,” he said.
As for the club, he anticipates challenges.
Collingwood’s position is they need to go to the draft and improve their list.
They know their list capabilities, of course, but many observers thought a 2018 GF, a 2019 preliminary final and 2020 semi-final in a hub year with injuries, suspensions and babies being delivered, are pretty good results.
When Buckley was banging the bins after his team beat West Coast in the elimination final, which was one of the club’s great performances, a list re-set wasn’t front of mind from those watching.
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But the Pies, we are how led to believe, think differently. They will go to the draft and will go after free agents next year.
That could be a problem, says Malthouse.
“Players who are now going to sign long-term contracts, five or six years, they are going to have this little thing in the back of their minds, asking if they are going to be here in five or six years,” he said.
“Am I going to help the club by back-ending my contract?
“It might be the managers who say don’t back end with Collingwood because you never know.
“Players will probably be a little bit wary.”
The effect on Collingwood going forward will be intriguing.
Firstly, Buckley will address the events this week and the lead up with the playing group and try to ensure morale and commitment is strong.
It shouldn’t be a problem if, in fact, his senior players wanted Treloar and Stephenson gone.
It will be a problem if that narrative doesn’t stack up and it was a salary cap bomb after all.
Originally published as Mark Robinson: Collingwood trade drama not a fire sale but an inside arson job
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