Despite Wednesday morning signaling the official opening of the 2020 AFL trade period, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has stated that no club officials will be discussing Adam Treloar until the window closes.
McGuire's public stance comes in light of the myriad of reports suggesting that Treloar, a contracted player until the end of 2025, is set to be departing the club inside this trade period.
McGuire spoke on Wednesday morning about the matter, with the Magpie president claiming on Triple M Hot Breakfastย that the reports surrounding Treloar's future at the club were merely "speculation".
โCan I tell you this? No one will be speaking at Collingwood. (Pies list manager) Ned Guy has to speak at (Trade) Radio โฆ won't be saying much I wouldn't have thought โ and that's as simple as that,โ McGuire toldย Triple M's Hot Breakfast.
โBecause here's what happens: We're in the middle of a very robust negotiation with every club over players and things like that.
โWhen does this (trade period) finish? Talk to you then (Thursday week).
โWhen everything's done, when it all hits the deck, we'll talk then.โ
McGuire's statement comes after foxfooty.com.au last week reported that Collingwood were desperate to shift Treloar in an effort to ease their salary cap situation.
Further reports also emerged suggesting that midfielder may fail to live up to on-field expectations while his wife, professional netballer Kim Ravaillion, and daughter are based in Queensland.
On Monday, another report surfaced stating that coach Nathan Buckley had informed Treloar that an unnamed group of senior players wanted the 27-year-old out of Collingwood.
Buckley has since denied this claim via his personal twitter account.
โAbsolute factโ...news to me Sam.
The constant rumour and innuendo is disrespectful to Adam, the club and our supporters.
Weโll continue to communicate directly and sensitively with Adz and his management.
FYI, our leaders donโt sit on list management, itโs not their job.
— Nathan Buckley (@ncb_cfc) November 2, 2020
Essendon legend and breakfast radio pundit Tim Watson added further fuel to the fiasco onย SEN Breakfast,ย with the three-time premiership player intrigued by Buckley's stance.
โIt was such an interesting thing for Nathan Buckley to do what he did because, generally, I think he handles himself particularly well and is really measured. But the club hasn't communicated with its members โ I think that's been disrespectful,โ Watson told SEN Breakfast.
โYou've got a salary cap issue, this player took a back-ended deal to accommodate other players, you're also worried he won't be able to deal with his family disconnection next season โ the problem is the football club. I would think members want to know how you got into this salary cap mess and how you're going to get out of it.
โI know it's potentially delicate and a sensitive situation โ โpotentially', OK โ but not if you've got great communication, the lines of communication are open.
โIt's of your own doing, Collingwood. You've got to tell your members now how you are going to navigate your way out of it.โ
Former Melbourne captain and Watson's co-host Garry Lyon also weighed in stating:
โIf your policy is you're not going to comment on anything, don't comment on anything โฆ (and) the first comment out of Collingwood is a Twitter response.
โBucks' denial was โnews to me', so we need to hear from him as to why and how he says that didn't happen.โ
Collingwood forward and Treloar's teammate Mason Cox added further petroleum to the rippling flames, with his admonishment of the media in general via twitter.
This time of year is when media loses all respect from me. Rumours become facts and the constant need to be first outweighs validity entirely too often. The consumer of media is also to blame though for creating it. We live in a โI want it nowโ world that is only getting worse.
— Mason Cox (@masonsixtencox) November 2, 2020
Despite this, Lyon was of the belief that Collingwood's silence on the situation was benefiting nobody.
โYou talk about rumour and innuendo, it's a massive story that's developed with Adam Treloar โ and we have no (explanation),โ Lyon said.
โSo don't blame the media for telling the story. Now we just wait to find out what the response is โ and the first response so far has come via Twitter.โ
Due to the aforementioned strain on the Magpie's salary cap, Cox has also been linked to a departure from the Holden Centre this off-season.
Lyon continued by stating there will be huge "spotlight" placed on Collingwood next season.
โYou've got a pivotal player such as (Treloar), who (the Magpies) are at odds with where they think he is and what he's capable of doing and the fact that he selflessly back-ended his contract. So he made sacrifices and now it would appear they're trying to move him on,โ Lyon said.
โThey've got other players like Phillips and Cox they're โฆ happy to move on if the right deal comes their way to free up some salary cap space.
โSo rightly or wrongly, this will shine a spotlight on this footy club at the start of next year. And if for whatever reason they struggle โ and let's hope for Collingwood's sake they don't โ then these are the moments that will be referred back to.โ
