Collingwood AFL trades | Jake Niall outlines the Magpies’ real agenda in the fire sale

The aggregate draft haul for Treloar and Stephenson was pick 14 and a future second round from the Western Bulldogs, who should play finals next year.

Peter Schwab, the former Hawthorn coach who traded Trent Croad for Luke Hodge in 2001 and was list manager at the Brisbane Lions from 2014 to 2016, did not think the Pies fared as badly as most external observers – and their fans – believe.

Schwab did not reckon Stephenson and Tom Phillips, who crossed to Hawthorn for diddly squat, were significant losses. “I don’t think they’re big losses but they didn’t get much for them.

“Treloar’s a loss.”

The ex-Hawthorn coach’s assessment was that Collingwood’s return was a little below par. “You probably want a top ten pick for Treloar, but you’ve also got his money off your books.

“They’re a little bit light but it’s not the disaster everyone’s saying it is. It’s a PR disaster.”

Since Thursday night, we’ve been reminded of the volatility of the Collingwood supporter base, which isn’t simply aggrieved about these trades. Their anger has been, like Collingwood’s salary cap problems, a slow burn since the 2019 preliminary final, and I’m sure has been exacerbated by watching Richmond win a third flag in four years and Geelong land a free agent, Jeremy Cameron, who would fit a dire need at Collingwood.

Geelong, indeed, have spent about the same amount of money on three very mature recruits (Cameron, Isaac Smith and Shaun Higgins) as the Magpies have removed from their books by jettisoning their three grand final players.

The trades for sub-prime returns was the match that lit the fuse for the fans, who will need appeasing in the coming months, as the Pies learn what cancel culture means for a footy club. Had Collingwood lost Treloar and Stephenson, but gained Cameron, I doubt there’d be much complaining.

This leads to the underlying agenda that the Magpies have not explicitly mentioned, and of the communication failure or information gap that exists between a club and its supporters and even between the players concerned and the decision-makers who’ve forced them out.

As officials at rival clubs well know, the Pies will be eyeing free agency and the trading market from 2021 and 2022. It is an indictment on planning that, despite the size and potency of the brand, they have not landed one A-grade free agent since the system was introduced eight years ago.

Collingwood’s explanations to Treloar and Stephenson might have contained home truths about on or off-field foibles and concerns (though Treloar’s devotion was never in question), but unless I’m mistaken, they did not bluntly tell the players: “We want to open up salary cap space for free agency and targeted trades because we need to revamp the list and we’ve overpaid some players. You’re not playing up to the level of your contract, we prioritised Darcy Moore, Jordan De Goey and Brodie Grundy, who are more important than you, and we need some draft picks. So, we’re sorry, but you have to go.”

Treloar and Stephenson, thus, are victims of countervailing forces within the modern AFL club: ruthless, business-like list management on one hand, and the need for holistic care and empathy for vulnerable players on the other. If they counted on the latter, the former prevailed.

Treloar’s contract of about $900,000 times five ($4.45m) was exorbitant only because the Pies kept pushing money back like a bad debt. This was not Treloar’s fault and he’s entitled to be upset given he was re-contracted not so long ago.

Collingwood could have traded De Goey, who’s been out of contract, rather than Treloar. That they didn’t was a statement about the value of those two players.

The easily-overlooked reality is that Nathan Buckley would not have consented to trading Treloar and Stephenson if they were fabric players within the playing group, no matter what Treloar thinks. But unfortunately for the marketing department, they are fabric players to the fans.

So, there’s an information gap right there. The fans view Treloar and Stephenson differently to the club’s footy bosses. That the pair went public with their grief – and with versions of events at odds with Buckley’s – has further fuelled the backlash.

A clear lesson is that Collingwood needed to give the fans some idea of their plans for free agency, of their need for a shake-up, to tell them that while they didn’t “need” to get under the salary cap, they couldn’t bring in A-graders without creating room.

This would involve admitting to past contracting mistakes. Had they presented this narrative, list manager Ned Guy would not have been unfairly made the veritable fall Guy for a litany of poor contracting calls over several years.

If the fans can only be appeased by winning games and potentially finding a gun forward prospect, the other group that will need careful management is the playing group, which will need reassuring about future directions and maybe an explanation about the fire sale.

Right now, the Pies just need to douse the flames.