MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 20: Magpies head coach Nathan Buckley speaks to media during a Collingwood Magpies AFL training session at Holden Centre on March 20, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
Melbourne great Garry Lyon was left surprised after Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley spoke for the first time on SEN's Whateley, divulging on the conclusion of the club's tumultuous trade period.
The Magpies coach as well as list manager Ned Guy came under intense scrutiny for their treatment of their departed stars, especially youngster Jaidyn Stephenson and ball-magnet Adam Treloar.
But Buckley was adamant that the club were in a better position after the trade period than they were beforehand.
“We’ve let some talent go, there’s no doubt, the perception is that we’re going to be worse off in 2021. It’s our determination that we’ve actually let players go that we can replace,” Buckley said on Monday.
“That’s not to say they weren’t liked or respected. There’s glue guys, there’s people that are fundamental to who you are and sometimes the perception from outside is not what you see or what you live every day inside and that was part of our determination.”
However, Garry Lyon was taken aback by these comments, believing that they were damaging for the players who the club had shown the door to.
“I thought that was a real sting in the tail there. What he’s saying clearly there is ‘hey, I’ve heard all this stuff about how Treloar is a much-loved player and how we’re going to miss Jaidyn’s talent – we can replace them. They’re not fabric guys, they’re not glue guys’" Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.
“What he’s saying there is the supporters might love Adam and Jaidyn for that reason, but in their eyes they weren’t fabric guys. They weren’t glue guys.
“That’s as big a kick in the ass as anything that’s come out of it for me. It’s a big slap (for Treloar).
“Steele Sidebottom must be a fabric guy, he flouted the whole rules, he must be glue guy.
“The bottom line is Adam Treloar is not a fabric guy or a glue guy."
In a season where the Pies were plagued by injury, Treloar managed to average 26.9 disposals per game in midfield, and featured ten times for Nathan Buckley's side.
Stephenson on the other hand had a poor season, playing in 14 games but only managing as many goals, and often dishing up insipid performances in the attack.
However, Lyon believes that should the Pies somehow manage a stellar start to their 2021 campaign, all could be forgiven by the Collingwood faithful.
“If Collingwood wins their first four games next year, or three of the first four, or five of the first seven, then it is forgotten" Lyon said to co-host Tim Watson on SEN Breakfast.
“Winning cures all. I promise you this. I promise you if we’re sitting here at Round 8 and they’re 6-2, it’ll be ‘they were on the money’.
“How tight the stitches are will be told in the winning or the losing. There’ll be none of this ‘we’re 3-6 but by hell we’re a tight group’ – that’s not going to cut it.”