Robbo: Will the Collingwood find someone to blame for trade period disaster?

Collingwood’s new list strategy is an ‘all-club’ approach. But don’t rule out a scapegoat, and the list of involved parties goes all the way to the top, writes Mark Robinson.

How will the Pies adjust to their brave new world? Picture: Michael Klein

If this were a crime scene, forensics would be in a bother.

There are fingerprints everywhere at Collingwood.

Pies fans are still seeking answers from the trade wreck.

Coach Nathan Buckley answered most of them on Monday during a radio interview on SEN.

Buckley was honest and sharp — the trades were business decisions, he said — and corrected a narrative that needed to be corrected. It was, after all, a salary cap purge.

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It was claimed on Thursday night by Collingwood list manager Ned Guy, and the following morning by head of football Geoff Walsh, that the club’s bulging salary cap played only a minor role.

Chief executive Mark Anderson on Saturday then admitted the cap was “a key part” of the call to dump four players. “To be blunt, we found ourselves in a bind,” he said.

On Monday, Buckley said: “It’s been on the cards for probably the last three or four years.” Perhaps he should have spoken on Friday morning and not Walsh, interviewed on president Eddie McGuire’s radio program.

The PR disaster is a learning experience. Next time, no shutting down. Instead, be as transparent as you can be with members and fans. And don’t put up Guy on trade night to drown on live TV.

Pie fans want answers over their club’s disastrous trade period. Picture: David Caird

Collingwood’s claim it wanted to keep the trade strategy in-house was nonsense because it was speaking to other clubs about trading players anyhow.

That sort of stuff finds itself into the media — always.

The football disaster is the far bigger issue.

Fans want answers and they probably want a suspect named: Who pulled the trigger? This is where it gets interesting.

The new list and salary cap strategies are an all-club approach.

Whether the old list and salary cap strategies was an all-club approach is debatable.

We’ll probably find out in coming weeks or months.

If a scapegoat is found, look to a 6.30pm Friday press release in late December or early January announcing the departure of said scapegoat.

Adam Treloar’s move to Whitten Oval presents De Goey with a chance at more midfield time. Picture: Getty Images

Buckley’s response was curious when asked about “old list management” on Monday.

“We decided to keep the group together as much as possible and that required us to push back, or the list manager … the footy manager and list management committee, to push back these cap issues, for right or for wrong,’’ he said.

More than a hint of finger pointing from Buckley.

Anyway, they were all in on winning a flag, it didn’t happen, and now that strategy has been blown up.

The Dayne Beams deal didn’t help and, by the way, there’ll be no AFL exemptions on his salary. Whatever he’s to be paid will be in the cap.

That deal. The Brodie Grundy deal. The Treloar deal. The Darcy Moore deal. The impending Jordan De Goey deal. They were/are all close to $1 million a season, which makes you ask why fingers aren’t being pointed at the players for being selfish and the board of directors for approving such selfish, exorbitant and long-term contracts.

Have the Pies been too greedy? Former coach Mick Malthouse ponders.

Great teams share the wealth. Former coach Mick Malthouse is also curious about how the likes of Hawthorn, Geelong and Richmond can manage their caps and win flags and be contenders.

West Coast actually won the 2018 flag and has not needed to disentangle its salary cap. It’s called sacrifice and unselfishness.

“Geelong have found a way, they have two retirees (Gary Ablett and Harry Taylor) and they bring in three superstars (Jeremy Cameron, Shaun Higgins and Isaac Smith),’’ Malthouse told the Herald Sun.

“Look at Hawthorn. Success in a footballer’s life in his late 20s is about getting a good contract, but more importantly having a chance of winning a premiership.

“Geelong has gone down that path, Richmond has gone a similar path and Collingwood has gone a totally different path.”

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The obvious culprit for this mess is Guy, who replaced veteran Pies recruiter Derek Hine in late 2017. For Buckley to say this was an explosion three or four years coming, Hine’s fingerprints are there, too. Faint, but they are there.

Walsh, as head of football, has his DNA splattered about; so, too, does McGuire because nothing of major consequence happens at Collingwood without his involvement.

So, it might be unfair for Guy to carry the can — he clearly didn’t act alone.

It simply might be an unsolved crime and nobody at Collingwood ever talks about it again. Still, watch for that press release.