Collingwood premiership hero Dale Thomas believes his former club has 'something up their sleeve' following a tumultuous trade period.

The Magpies parted ways with Adam Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson, Tom Phillips and Atu Bosenavulagi during the exchange window to ease salary cap pressure, while the club insisted they were trying to improve their draft stocks despite getting little in return.

However, speaking on Triple M's Dead Set Legends, Thomas thinks the Pies have a 'master plan' they aren't revealing to the public.

"I still think they have to have an unbelievable season or the jungle drums will start beating," Thomas said.

"Because the supporters are still going berserk and as someone with my heart very dear to them, it just doesn't smell right for me... The cheques and balances don't really add up.

"But there's one thing I do know about that football club, and they will have a plan. They might not be releasing it to the wider public, they'll be happy to let people come for them.

"They'll be sitting on something and there will be a master plan. Whether it comes off or not is another story.

"They've got something up their sleeve, I know it. They're not releasing it and we'll either all go 'oh wow that's why' or it'll go to crap and go 'well that's why it didn't really work out'."

Collingwood have picks 14, 16, 65, 70, 75, 92 in the upcoming AFL draft.