In the aftermath of last nightโs trade exodus, Collingwood supporters have been left furious and wanting answers from the clubโs higher ups.
And according toย Fox Sports'ย Tom Morris, such disharmony is being matched by senior figures within the club.
"However disillusioned Collingwood fans are this morning, it is matched by those inside the club. A level of frustration with senior figures that requires plenty of work to reverse before it impacts 2021," Morris tweeted on Friday morning.
However disillusioned Collingwood fans are this morning, it is matched by those inside the club. A level of frustration with senior figures that requires plenty of work to reverse before it impacts 2021. @FOXFOOTY
— Tom Morris (@tommorris32) November 13, 2020
Tom Phillips, a man who made the wing position his own, went to Hawthorn for the bargain basement price of pick 65, almost equivalent to a bag of cheezels.
Jaidyn Stephenson, a top-10 pick in the 2017 draft and won the Rising Star award, was packaged up with three-game youngster Atu Bosenavulagi and sent to North Melbourne in exchange for second and third-round draft picks.
Adam Treloar, who had five years to run on his current contract, was traded to the Western Bulldogs in the last minute of the deadline for essentially a future second round pick.
Canโt wait for the day Adam Treloar absolutely slews Collingwood. That will be a glorious day https://t.co/aDHXpuF3gH
— Ryan Adamson (@radamson15) November 13, 2020
The fans have every right to be upset โ on the final day, Collingwood offloaded three players that should be entrenched in their best 22 and were in their grand final team two years ago.
What makes Pies supporters feel even more upset is that the club officials are dancing around the issue, as opposed to being honest about the situation at hand.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire broke his silence on the situation this morning on Triple Mโs the Hot Breakfast.
โItโs the toughest thing when youโre a supporter, because you love your players and your players love you,โ he said.
โThese days itโs really toughโฆ itโs been a very hard year for everybody. I hate this period."
"๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด. ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฃ .๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ. Eddie McGuire on the 1st of April #Collingwood #AFL
— nick (@nick_baldoni) November 13, 2020
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley unquestionably described it on Twitter last night as his โtoughest day in footy.โ
โManaging contracted players who love the environment out of the club is a lose/lose situation in the short term,โ he said.
โThe decisions werenโt popular, but they were necessary.โ
What Buckley failed to address was why offloading these four players were necessary.
Collingwood list manager Ned Guy addressed the media last night following the deadline and his quotes did no favours to ease the disillusion and the tension between the club and its supporters.
When asked about Collingwoodโs documented salary cap issues, Guy shrugged it off.
โI think itโs a bit of a beat-up, the salary cap issues,โ he said on Fox Footy.
โI donโt think itโs a fire sale at all, I think we just wanted to replenish the list and to be able to get in the first round (of the draft) youโve got to be able to give something up.
โItโs part of the plan we all put together and one we executed today.โ
The responses on social media to this have been critical to say the least.
Ned guyโs next job and career path is set he will join Daniel Andrews and the Victorian Labour Party can spin shit with the best of them. #danandrews
— Blake Lawrence (@blake87lawrence) November 13, 2020
โHeโs making himself look like an idiot dancing around it and trying to spin it as a positive,โ one tweet said.
โMore spin than Nathan Lyon,โ read another tweet.
The Treloar situation is undoubtedly the messiest of the lot, with Guy also confirming on Fox Footy that he wouldโve still been at Collingwood if his star netball partner Kim Ravaillion wasnโt heading to Queensland to resume her Super Netball career.
โWe had some conversations with Adam and (manager) Tim (Hazell) originally around whether his family was going to move to Queensland and whether he wanted to do that,โ he said.
โIt evolved from having that conversation to he thought heโd look at another opportunityโฆ That was the catalyst for the discussion.โ
Nathan Buckleyโs response to the story broke by Sam Edmund, which claimed that Collingwood didnโt want Adam Treloar to be part of the football club in 2021.
Someoneโs not being totally honest here... pic.twitter.com/xoH8ONvazh
— Matthew Donald (@matthew__donald) November 13, 2020
The way the club has handled Stephensonโs departure has also been a talking point of concern, with the 2018 Rising Star winner telling SEN yesterday that he was shocked and hurt by what happened.
โI heard nothing from the club so I gave Bucks a call myself to see what was going on and he pretty much said for a trade as aggressively as you want,โ he said.
โThere wasnโt a very clear reasoningโฆ He just said he doesnโt know if Iโve allowed myself to open up to the group, which I donโt necessarily agree with.
โBut if thatโs how he saw it, heโs the coach and thatโs his prerogativeโฆ I was obviously very happy playing at Collingwood.โ
For all their offloading, Collingwood will now walk into next monthโs AFL Draft with picks 14, 16, 65, 70, 75 and 92.