AFL trade bombshell: How Collingwood drove Adam Treloar to the Western Bulldogs

The campaign to get Adam Treloar out of Collingwood started at his exit interview and finished just one minute before the trade deadline.

Bulldog Adam Treloar at training. Picture: Michael Klein

“I’ve just got this bit of a weird feeling.”

Adam Treloar was concerned but his manager Tim Hazel was quick to allay any fears.

He understood the anxiety as it had been a tumultuous period for the Collingwood star who was getting his head around being away from his family for most of the next year.

His partner Kim Ravaillion, and daughter Georgie, were set to move to Brisbane where she was resuming her netball career with the Queensland Firebirds.

Treloar, who was contracted at Collingwood until 2025, was staying behind but the couple were determined to make it work.

The Magpies had been made aware of the proposed move and had been initially surprised but supportive.

Word had started to get out with the Gold Coast Suns jumping in early and making a call to Collingwood to ask if they were interested in exploring a trade.

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Jaidyn Stephenson, Adam Treloar and Ben Reid are all no longer at Collingwood. Picture: Getty Images

There was history here as the Pies had thrown up Treloar’s name 12 months earlier when they were desperately trying to get their hands on the No. 1 pick in the draft to snare Matt Rowell, a ball magnet from Carey Grammar.

This time around the Suns had selection No. 5 which would be more than a reasonable swap for the 27-year-old midfielder.

But Treloar was adamant he wanted to stay in the black and white — plus he had a contract which suggested he wasn’t going anywhere.

He’d sacrificed significant money in recent years to help out the club with its salary cap, back-ending a contract which now had him set to earn $900,000 per season for the next five years.

The Suns had also contacted Hazel out of courtesy to register their interest but he’d assured them that Treloar wasn’t going anywhere.

He then rang Collingwood list boss Ned Guy who confirmed that the Pies had rejected the advance and weren’t interested in moving his client on.

“That was two weeks before Adam raised his concerns,” Hazel explains.

“I’d had other conversations also and I was like ‘nah mate, we’re all fine’.

“He said, ‘OK sweet, but I’ve got this bit of a weird feeling’. And then it all turned south 24 hours later.”

BUCKLEY FUELS FIRE

The campaign to get Treloar out started at his exit interview after the Pies crashed out of the 2020 finals series.

Two days after Collingwood had been smashed by 68 points by Geelong in the semi-final, the Pies made their move and told Treloar they wanted to trade him.

It was the same day Ravaillion’s move to Queensland became public.

The suggestion was they didn’t think he could handle being away from his family and that it would have a detrimental effect on his football.

Treloar was livid that they would use his partner returning to her profession as a wedge and stood his ground.

Several hours later he went on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 program and declared his commitment to stay at Collingwood.

Nathan Buckley speaks to Treloar during happier times. Picture: AAP Image/Michael Dodge

In the ensuing days it became apparent the Pies had serious salary cap issues and were effectively having a fire sale to create space.

For two weeks the situation stood still. Collingwood kept saying they wanted him out, Treloar kept saying he wanted to stay.

And then Nathan Buckley picked up the phone and literally poured petrol on the fire.

There are different versions of what happened on that call but Treloar is adamant that the Pies coach told him that senior teammates no longer wanted him at the club.

Buckley has since said his comments were misconstrued and that he could have communicated better with the midfielder.

While many of his teammates sent messages of support to Treloar, for the first time he started to feel a real uneasiness about the situation.

When the trade period officially opened on Wednesday November 4, he found himself sharing top billing with Western Bulldogs Josh Dunkley, who like him was contracted but was being pursued by Essendon.

The difference with Dunkley was the Bulldogs didn’t want to let him go.

Like a number of clubs, the Dogs had made a phone call to Hazel just to get the lay of the land but they hadn’t given it any serious thought.

That all changed over the weekend as it became more and more clear that Treloar was coming to the realisation that he was most likely going to have to move.

St Kilda had shown interest although they were also a long way down the track in securing Adelaide’s Brad Crouch.

For the first time Treloar’s name started to get mentioned in the hallways of power at the Whitten Oval.

If they lost Dunkley then Treloar was an obvious replacement but a grander plan was starting to be hatched with football boss Sam Power asking for an answer to one key question: could they cater for both?

LET’S GET IT DONE

The trade deadline was 48 hours away as Treloar and Ravaillion arrived at Luke Beveridge’s Bayside home.

While they were still holding out hope of a late reconciliation with Collingwood, the couple had agreed they should at least have a conversation with the Dogs coach.

Power and Hazel were also in attendance at the gathering as Beveridge explained where his side was at and where Treloar would fit into its premiership push.

But more telling was the care and empathy he showed for the couple’s plight, asking numerous questions about their plans and how he could help out where necessary.

It was in stark contrast to Collingwood’s approach.

As Treloar walked to his car he turned to Hazel and said: “You know what, I want to go. This feels right. Let’s get it done.”

The following evening at the Whitten Oval the Bulldogs list management group came together for its final meeting with less than 24 hours left before the trade deadline.

Power and Beveridge were present along with chief executive Ameet Bains, football director Chris Grant, coaching and operations manager Chris Maple and national recruiting manager Dom Milesi.

Treloar trains with the Bulldogs at Whitten Oval in February. Picture: Getty Images

The group had already ticked off the acquisition of Brisbane ruckman Stefan Martin and Melbourne forward Mitch Hannan to fill specific roles.

Now they were faced with a potential game changing situation, a decision that could elevate the Dogs from potential finalist to premiership contender.

Power didn’t muck around at the start of the meeting, declaring: “We can do both.”

The Dunkley-Essendon situation had got messy with the Bombers playing games.

Two first-round picks had been the asking price from the start by the Dogs who saw Dunkley as a potential future captain.

It was agreed that if they didn’t get that then Dunkley would stay with Beveridge and his coaching staff confident they could repair any damage caused by the failed trade.

The Treloar situation was more about money and points.

The Dogs were only willing to go to $600,000 per season which meant Collingwood would have to pay around $300,000 of his salary for each of the next five seasons.

This had already been discussed with the Magpies who’d agreed through gritted teeth because they knew there was no turning back now.

The points situation related to potential No. 1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan who was linked to the Bulldogs through the Next Generation Academy.

They needed to have enough draft points to match an expected bid from Adelaide on the exciting left-footer who had been likened to Buddy Franklin.

Plenty of scenarios were written on the whiteboard but the most likely saw the Dogs first-round pick No. 14 going to Collingwood along with a future second round in exchange for Treloar and three second-round picks which they were likely to acquire by trading young gun Jaidyn Stephenson to North Melbourne.

When the meeting ended there were two clear courses of action which had been agreed upon.

Dunkley would be staying unless Essendon miraculously changed their tune (which no-one expected) and that Treloar would be coming in on very specific financial terms which were non-negotiable.

PAINFUL WAIT

Apart from his partner and newborn child, Treloar’s two most prized possessions are his dogs, a Siberian Husky named Griffin and a golden retriever called Sonny.

They usually get a couple of walks a day but on this particular Thursday they were clocking up the kilometres as Treloar took to the streets to calm his nerves.

Nothing had happened all day and he was legitimately starting to get worried. Hazel was also nervous as he waited in his Richmond office for news as the 7.30pm deadline loomed.

Power’s phone had been running hot all day with Essendon and Collingwood trying to formulate a three-way deal involving Dunkley, Treloar and a host of draft picks.

After a few hours of spitballing, the Dogs made a call. They weren’t doing the three-way option, both deals had to be separate or not at all.

As the clock in the Whitten Oval war room ticked past 7.25pm all eyes were on Power who was again talking to his Collingwood counterpart Ned Guy.

Treloar and wife Kim Ravallion, with daughter Georgie, after signing with the Bulldogs.

The Dunkley deal was dead because as expected Essendon hadn’t come to the party so it was now all about getting Treloar over the line.

At 7.29pm the email was sent. It was done.

Hazel got the call two minutes later and by the time he got off the phone it was 7.34pm and Treloar still didn’t know.

He was again out walking his dogs when his agent finally got through to him with the good news.

“I found out two minutes past so then I had to get that conversation done and then quickly get to Adam,” Hazel recalls.

“Those minutes can go pretty quick but for Adam it was like it went for an eternity.”

The fallout was significant.

Treloar explained his side of the story the next day wearing his new Western Bulldogs No. 1 jumper while Collingwood kept falling over themselves.

Guy gave a howler of an interview which placed the blame on Ravaillion for moving to Queensland while Buckley and president Eddie McGuire surprisingly stayed silent.

The Magpies even tried to haggle over the financial terms claiming there had been a last-minute change. The AFL was called in and quickly made it clear that they favoured the Western Bulldogs version of events.

In an ironic twist Treloar and Dunkley instantly clicked as teammates and became close friends over the summer.

The fact Dunkley’s sister Lara also played at the Queensland Firebirds (as does ruckman Tim English’s girlfriend Rudi Ellis) just added to their chemistry.

A calf strain has added further intrigue to the build-up to Round 1 for Treloar who knows he will have another weird feeling when he runs out on the MCG on Friday night to face his old team.

And he’ll be hoping he’s right again. Back in October he nailed it, could his sense about the Western Bulldogs and the month of September in 2021 also be on the money?

Originally published as AFL trade bombshell: How Collingwood drove Adam Treloar to the Western Bulldogs