Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has responded to Nathan Buckley'sย SENย interview on Monday, justifying his club's decision-making during trade period.

McGuire, speaking onย Triple M's Hot Breakfast,ย confirmed that the Pies let go of Adam Treloar, Tom Phillips, At Bosenavulagi and Jaidyn Stephenson in an effort to trim down on their near capacity salary cap.

However, he emphasised that it wasn't a knee-jerk reaction and that the club were consciously planning for the future.

"We could have gone on with the salary cap, so it wasn't as if it was a fire sale. We changed, we pivoted."

Adam Treloar in particular had a bumper back-ended contract, with the 27-year-old contracted to the Pies until 2025 on a rumoured $900,000 per-year.

His move to the Western Bulldogs meant that the Pies will still have to contribute some of his salary, as he is still owed quite a large sum from the club.

McGuire also claimed that he felt as if the media came after his club as they didn't feature on trade-themed shows, such asย AFL Trade Radio.

"The media always like to come after people who... aren't racing to be on these types of shows."

But the Pies president believes that the exodus at Collingwood won't be the last of it's kind across the league.

"10-15% salary cap was going to come off any day...it's going to be nice and tasty when every one has to re-negotiate every contract.

"There's going to be a bit more stories on all these types of things.

"The salary cap instead of always going forward...you could pitch yourself three, four, five years forward based on TV rights...is going to go back the other way because we haven't had any crowds, it's going to be tough on the corporate world, TV isn't going to pay as much as it once did..."

"There will be a reckoning in the next few years because of what's going on."

The Triple M host pointed to other clubs and how each club has had players that have wanted to leave, and that no one is safe.

"The players and players association have said they want to have free agency - weโ€™ve seen this year apart from Collingwood where players were taken out of the club - every player has walked on the club.โ€

"The Swans are facing a similar situation with Buddy Franklin for example."