Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has spoken publicly for the first time since the club's trade exodus.
The Magpies last week parted with Adam Treloar,ย Jaidyn Stephenson,ย Tom Phillipsย andย Atu Bosenavulagi in a brutal list management period that has caused disharmony and backlash from the supporter base.
The departures of Treloar and Stephenson have been met with the most criticism, with the contracted pair expressing disappointment in the handling of their exits.
Speaking onย SENโs Whateley on Monday morning, Buckley admitted that the club drove those players out due to salary cap pressure.
โYes, we had to (drive them out), we had to,โ Buckley said.
โThe conversations were pretty short and sharp and for a varying number of reasons โ some inside of their control and some with absolutely nothing to do with those individuals.
โWe needed to make those decisions and force those outcomes. There was a forced element to it, and itโs been on the cards for probably the last three or four years.
โWe decided to keep the group together as much as possible and that required us to push back these cap issues โ for right or for wrong โ and thereโs a lot of things that have come to pass in the last 12-24 months that have brought these decisions forward.
โWe felt that this was the time that we needed to stop pushing out pain into the future and take it all in one gulp now.โ
On Adam Treloar
โI can understand how Adam has perceived it that way (that the club wanted to push him out). As soon as we determined that thatโs how it was going to go, I donโt think it was going to be pretty, we knew that.
โAdam is a heart and soul person. My personal relationship with him is important to me, weโre really close and itโs strained at the moment. The dust is yet to settle. Adam is a quality young man and personally Iโve got great respect for him. I like the way that he carries himself. I think weโve supported him personally and professionally really well.
โThis was a business decision, in my communication with him, it was determined it had to be me and it was often one-on-one. I think he had great respect for me and healthy respect for our relationship, not just the five or six years at Collingwood but his junior career. This is a break up, this is something that he was aware of 12 months ago that became more real now.
โIt has been difficult for him, difficult for us as a football club, but it was a business decision unfortunately.โ
Buckley said that he believes Treloar misunderstood their post-season conversation while also taking accountability for miscommunication.
โThereโs clearly something I couldโve done better in those conversations with Adam. We spoke a couple of times immediately beyond the season.
โWhen I first spoke to Adam about the decision the football club had come to, itโs really hard. I had this experience 12 months ago. We tried to act on this in the last off-season, not specifically with Adam, but with the situation with our situation with the salary cap and squaring that up. I did a lot of that communicating with the players.
โWith Adam it was clearly something I needed to address because the relationship we had. The leaders were aware of the list management decision soon after the season and it was done for them to provide genuine support and have a knowledge of what Adam and we were facing.
โThere was one element of on-field specific feedback that I gave to Adam in the early stages immediately after the season that related to on-field connection. That came through reviews from the last couple of years, that wasnโt news to Ads. That was something he understood and potentially those things put together were perceived as your teammates donโt support you or want you at the football club.
โSomething in my communication has failed for him to think that. I know entirely where that has come from. These were really hard conversations. Iโm old enough and mature enough to know that in high pressure situations, in situations that involve the heart, unpredicted outcomes can occur because you can deliver information.
โThis was always going to be hurtful, this was always going to be a shock, lead to cause distress because of the nature of it. I didnโt feel entirely great about it. We feel weโve made these decisions for the betterment of the football club in the short, medium and long terms and weโve had to be brutal in a professional sense with some of our players to square us up and be able to move into the future with a couple of hands tied behind our back.โ
On Jaiydn Stephenson
โThe general public may not be aware of how these things play out. The third parties here that are often not considered are the managers of the players. That was communicated to the concept of exploring a trade for Jaidyn, who had a couple of years to run on his contract.
โThat concept was floated through our list management crew and his management. Jaidyn was aware in his exit that there was a possibility that we would explore that. The call that he gave to me was two weeks later in the middle of trade period and basically he wanted to confirm is that what I was looking for, is this what you want?
โI had to be clear to him this is where the football club needs to go and if you have an opportunity to go elsewhere, I would take it. Jaidyn called me, but he was aware of his situation through his management before that.โ
On the negative response from supporters
Buckley admitted he has never seen such an outraged response from fans during his time in the game.
โProbably not (have I experienced anything this strong), no. Iโve been through some situations with the football club as a player, as an assistant coach and as a coach. I love the place. I want to see it succeed.
โIโve committed my lifeโs work in a professional sense to it. Iโm hungry for success and for it to be a place that everyone is proud of. I understand that there are a lot of people that donโt feel that way at the moment.
โI can understand that. Thereโs a lot of things that we could have done better in the recent past and the last three or four weeks particularly, but we are where we are and the decisions were made consciously โฆ itโs brutal, but we feel it was needed.โ
He believes the club hasn't necessarily abandoned its 'side by side' motto in these decisions.
โI understand how weโve opened ourselves up to that criticism.
โMy view is, and this has challenged my perspective โฆ weโre a very tight knit group. The last three seasons have shown our capacity to come together and support each other โฆ while understanding that we need to challenge each other.
โWeโve done that relatively well. Weโve been relatively successful without getting the ultimate.โ
On potentially damaging the team fabric
โYes, I do worry about that. Because thatโs critical.
โIโve got no doubt that a lot of our people that wouldnโt be as aware of our situation off-field โฆ we didnโt walk around talking about our bulging salary cap every day when we were going around our last three years.
โItโs a challenge that every club faces. We havenโt managed it quite as well as we would have liked. The players themselves have made sacrifices. They were aware. A lot of our senior players had money that was pushed back to facilitate what we needed to do and to keep within the rules.
โThe issue for me is clearly coming back together. Iโve got no doubt that we can do that. This has been a year like no other. We felt fractured, and felt like we were off balance. That was every club in the competition and we were just doing our best to look after one another and to survive.
โWeโve kept the key people informed as much as we possibly can. Iโm sure that we would all like this to have played out a little quieter, a little more under the surface, but weโve ripped the bandaid off, the wounds are raw still, but they will heal and we will move forward from this.โ
On salary cap pressure
"We tried to act on this 12 months ago in the last off-season, not specifically with Adam, but with our situation with the salary cup and squaring up (back-ended contracts).
"We wanted to play it quieter in the trade period. We didn't get a great result, let's be clear with that, but I don't know if you're going to get a better result if you come out and say 'we need to adjust our salary cap'.
"We tried to foolishly maintain some bargaining position on the trade table by shutting our mouths, and that's caused even more angst on the other side."