Collingwood vice-captain Taylor Adams reaches out to traded ex-teammate Adam Treloar

Taylor Adams has set the record straight about Adam Treloar’s brutal delisting by Collingwood which came after a long chat with his former teammate.

Adam Treloar’s delisting by Collingwood was tough for both player and club. Picture: Getty Images

Collingwood vice-captain Taylor Adams says he has “broken bread” with Adam Treloar over his departure from the Magpies as he shot down claims the club’s leadership group wanted the midfielder out.

Adams said he had held an “in-depth” conversation with Treloar since his shock exit from the club during a controversial trade period for the Magpies and explained his version of events.

It came as coach Nathan Buckley earlier this week denied accusations he had told Treloar the senior players had wanted him gone.

Adams said the club’s leadership group had never expressed such feelings towards Treloar, who was traded to the Western Bulldogs.

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“There has obviously been confusion along the way somewhere and it was a complete misrepresentation of what we felt as leaders,” Adams said on RSN.

“At no point did I ever feel that was the feeling of what the leaders wanted and I have expressed that a number of times now and so has (coach) Nathan (Buckley)

“We are looking forward to moving on. I have spoken to ‘Adsy; in depth and we have broken bread about what my series of events are and what was reported in the media so I think he is relatively content with where that all sits.”

Treloar was among four Magpies off-loaded during the trade period, with midfielder Tom Phillips moved on to Hawthorn and Jaidyn Stephenson and Atu Bosenvulagi both to North Melbourne.

Adams said the trade period had been a “really tough time” for a lot of people at the club and he had sought to get an understanding of what the club was “trying to achieve”.

“I think what we did really well is leaders of the football club, the leadership group, we were in constant communication with each other and tried to be across everything as much as we possibly could and support each other through what was a really tough time,” Adams said.

“Everyone has their own relationships with individual people that were traded or delisted or retired so people react differently to these player movements.

Adam Treloar tries on his new colours after being traded to Western Bulldogs.

“I think the way that I tried to stay connected with the group was just to touch base with the guys that I knew that were probably also affected.

“We tried to get an understanding of what the club was trying to achieve and there were a few agendas there, we obviously wanted to bring in some youth and we obviously had that pressure of the salary cap that needed to be rectified.

“So the club has made some really tough and difficult decisions and our list management has the full faith of the playing group and us as leaders and I’m glad that the process is now over, we can now move on and project forward and look forward to 2021.

“After speaking to all of the guys that left the club to go pursue careers elsewhere, I think they see the same thing, an opportunity that they can move on and make the best of the situation that now is.”

Pies blame Trade Radio for Treloar hysteria

- Reece Homfray

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has again categorically denied accusations he told Adam Treloar the senior players wanted him gone and detailed the difficult series of talks he had with his former midfielder starting in their Queensland hub.

Treloar was sensationally traded to the Western Bulldogs in the off-season amid reports Buckley had told him his teammates wanted him out to help the club relieve crippling salary cap pressure.

“I broke protocol halfway through trade period to respond to that accusation, and it was stated as absolute fact, and I can state as absolute fact that that was not said to Adam,” Buckley told the Collingwood members’ forum on Monday night.

“I think we can glean from what (Geoff Walsh) Walshy and Ned (Guy) have been talking about, how difficult this process was, and the last thing I would expect of our senior players is to pick one of their own to have to fall under these circumstances.

The Magpies will have to pay Treloar $1.5 million in the next five years.

“That was taken on board by the list management committee, and once you realise what you need to do, then you need to work out the who and two face-to-face conversations with Adam in the hub, a text message about a week later and then a phone call three or four days after that in the middle of trade period were the direct communication I had with Adam.

“It was deemed that I have that conversation with Adam given the relationship we had fostered and built over a long period of time, I coached him in the under-16s in Vic Country.

“That’s not true and I think Adam himself has said that’s not true and the players didn’t want him gone, and unfortunately it wasn’t a popularity contest it was something we needed to do from a business decision.

“I said at the time it’s damaging and disrespectful to Adam, his family and his connections and to the football club and the senior leaders and I stand by that.”

MCGUIRE WEIGHS IN

President Eddie McGuire, who also announced he would stand down at the end of 2021, said the AFL’s trade radio had created unnecessary hysteria and attention around the Treloar trade.

“There’s a new dynamic now and it’s trade radio, it’s great for people who love the footy and are following it all the time, great for the media, the AFL, it’s not great for the people involved in it — bad luck,” he said.

“But what also happened was after a month of ‘will Jeremy Cameron get to Geelong?’ there came a new story there that was pretty big, it was a big story and it took off from there.

“The guys were trying to protect confidentiality that was given to different players but also try to do the deal that we needed to get done in difficult circumstances so it was a bit of a perfect storm this year.”

Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs reached a resolution in the Treloar contract dispute last week that will see the Magpies pay $1.5m to their former midfielder over the next five years.

Treloar was traded to the Bulldogs along with Picks 26, 33 and 42 in exchange for Pick 14 and the Dogs’ future second round selection while midfielder Tom Phillips was shipped off to Hawthorn and Jaidyn Stephenson and Atu Bosenvulagi to North Melbourne.

Walsh: Why Pies will pay Treloar’s salary for five years

Outgoing football manager Geoff Walsh told members it was a “part of the business” to pay the salary of some former players to ensure a trade deal is done.

“It’s part of the rules and we will be paying part of Adam Treloar’s contract … we agreed to that from the outset, something significant, it’s something we’ve budgeted for,” Walsh said.

“In his case is it unexpected? No, But we won’t be commenting on the sums or the details of any player’s contract full stop.”

Magpies list manager Ned Guy said he knew the decision to trade the popular players would cause some angst among supporters but it had to be done to relieve salary cap pressure which had kept the list together in recent years.

“The four guys who were traded to other clubs are top-shelf quality people so we knew there was going to be some pain but it was something we had to address,” Guy said.

“We weren’t going to wait until we were in serious decline before we started addressing our medium to longer-term needs for the program. A lot of clubs keep their strategies pretty close to their chest during the trade period and for instance with Adam there was a commitment with him and his camp that we weren’t going to publicly discuss it until the impending trade had been completed.

“Each year we sit down with the AFL and are given some data that illustrates just about every club in the competition is right up there at the top level of their salary cap, we could have kept pushing a problem down the road that would have reared its ugly head at some point in time, we decided not to do that. But ultimately it was a strategy that kept our group together to achieve what we (did) and almost get the ultimate glory.”