Garry Lyon has criticised Collingwood for their treatment of players whom they're trying to oust from the club and is perplexed by their interest in Jack Gunston.
Adam Treloar, Mason Cox, Jaidyn Stephenson and Tom Phillips are all reportedly being pushed out of the Holden Centre amid the club's salary cap space squeeze.
The most public saga of these is that of Adam Treloar, who is being ushered out in a messy sequence of events, with the Pies wanting to get his lucrative back-ended salary off their books.
However, Lyon is confused at why the club has now gone to make a move for Gunston when things are looking increasingly tight on the financial side of things.
“Collingwood left, right and centre are going back to players and saying ‘yeah we mucked up your contract, give us some money back or we’ll have to move you on’" he said to SEN Breakfast on Monday.
“That’s essentially what they’re doing. And then in the midst of that they’re making a play for Jack Gunston?
“That’s not the time to go and chase someone. If you’re Jack Gunston, you’d go ‘I beg your pardon, you’ve made a contract offer to me, one like you did with Adam Treloar? Is that what I’m looking at in a couple of years' time?’”.
Furthermore, Lyon said he is skeptical of how Nathan Buckley's side could regroup and move past the exodus that is occurring at the club.
He also is interested to see if someone will be punished for the careless handling of player contracts.
“I don’t know who is to blame at Collingwood – will someone get the sack for this?”.
“I’m talking about Adam Treloar’s five-year contract which they don’t want anymore, we’re talking about Jaidyn Stephenson’s two-year contract extension, which they’re happy to offload, we’re talking about Tom Phillips who has a year to run on his contract."
“Who do we blame for that and who is going to be ultimately held accountable?”.
