Adam Treloar has returned serve to Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley after his former claimed the 28-year-old took his trade to the Western Bulldogs personally.
Treloar's move was the big story of the 2020 exchange period as the Pies looked to off-load the midfielder's long-term, big money contract in a bid to clear up salary cap room.
The move was spoken about in great depth throughout the trade period due to the reluctance of Treloar to leave and the peculiar reasoning that seemed to surface at the time.
There was whispers that Collingwood teammates found Treloar to be hard to deal with and unable to take criticism before it was then reported that it may have something to do with Treloar's partner and Australian netball star Kim Ravaillion spending her season in Queensland, with a move interstate seen to possibly affect the mental health of Treloar.
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Treloar has openly spoken about his battle with mental health in the past and with Ravaillion moving interstate with the couple's child for the netball season, there were reports Collingwood were worried it would impact Treloar's performance.
Eventually a deal was struck with the Bulldogs that saw Collingwood still paying part of Treloar's five-year deal.
Buckley spoke to AFL Media about the trade process and said he thinks Treloar could have handled the move better. Comparing Treloar's reaction to that of Hawk Tom Phillips, who was also traded at the end of 2020.
โFlip (Tom Phillips) came down and watched our praccy match a couple of weeks ago and he looks like heโs going really well," he said.
โThereโs a bit of contrast in the reality of professional existence. I believe I showed genuine love and care for our people and challenge the professional. Sometimes when there are professional decisions that need to be made, itโs hard to separate the personal side of it.
โIโve reached out to Ads a couple of times and we havenโt connected. Weโll let Round 1 come and go. I hope he does really well. Heโs a great guy and heโs a very talented footballer. I do with him all the best and I do look forward to re-establishing the relationship in some form.
โAt the same time with a Tommy Phillips and Ads, thereโs been a lot of focus on Ads and how that transpired. The very same conversations were being had with Tom Phillips and he handled it a whole lot differently and saw that it wasnโt a personal decision but was a professional decision.
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โThatโs not to say that Ads was wrong or Flip was right, or that you donโt treat people as individuals. For me that shows the contrast, you can have the same conversations with two different people around exactly the same circumstances and thereโs going to be two individual responses.
โThatโs Ads experience and Tomโs experience. In the end the club will do what it feels it needs to do.โ
However when speaking to The Age, Treloar says he believes most people would take how he was treated to heart.
โI guess it was hard not to take it personally... I did, but it is kind of hard not to. You put anyone in that position; are they going to take it personally? I think they are,โ Treloar said.
โThere is a human side to everything. You canโt disregard the human side.โ
Buckley said he had tried to connect with Treloar in recent times but hasn't been able to reach him, with Treloar confirming the pair hadn't spoken since his departure.
โThere will be a time, I have no doubt there will be a time when we eventually connect and chat and talk about things but for now I have clearly got things on my mind and things that I want to focus on and not really worry about that," he said.
โI was moving on from a group of guys that I just love, I love them all.
โI cherished every moment of playing for that footy club. I loved playing for Collingwood, I loved playing for the fans there and I still thought I was going to be playing there.โ
Treloar is set to face his former side on Friday night at the MCG in what will be his debut game in the red, blue and white.
