‘Hard not to take it personally’: Treloar opens up on brutal trade

Three days out from last year’s trade deadline on November 12, the normally ebullient Adam Treloar was close to inconsolable.

His mind was racing as he sat with his manager Tim Hazell and contemplated leaving Collingwood.

Adam Treloar poses for a photo in his new team colours.Credit:Eddie Jim

After remaining adamant he was staying at the Magpies for a tumultuous month, Treloar knew in his heart (one he wears on his sleeve more than most) that he was going to have to leave because of what had occurred from the time Collingwood had zeroed in on getting rid of him to create salary cap space.

But as the decision time arrived, it wasn’t the unsavoury way he had been treated during the previous five weeks that was upsetting Treloar most.

It was the thought of leaving behind the relationships he had built in 94 games at Collingwood.

“I was moving on from a group of guys that I just love, I love them all. I cherished every moment of playing for that footy club. I loved playing for Collingwood, I loved playing for the fans there and I still thought I was going to be playing there,” Treloar said.

It was not a position he wanted to be in, nor one he had considered possible when he signed a four-year extension in 2019 to remain at the club until the end of 2025, helping the club kick their salary cap issues down the road to retain other star players.

That team-oriented act had left Treloar vulnerable through no fault of his own as the club decided at the end of 2020 they had to fix their salary cap bind.

Now owed $900,000 per year for the next five years, a figure skewed upwards because of the adjustments to his previous income, Treloar became the player who could best thin their bloated salary cap.

Treloar could see as clearly as anyone else that in pure market terms he was not worth $4.5 million over five years if he’d signed a fresh contract heading in to 2021. But he hadn’t. He’d changed his contract several times to push money back and extend his contract to smooth the club’s total player payments. The club had come to him to help with those changes. He hadn’t come to them.

“I am exactly the same. What I would have been getting paid, [there were] only a certain few players [in the AFL] that would have been entitled to that,” Treloar said.

“The reason why it was like that was because I had taken so much of a hit that I was owed that money.”

Collingwood entered the process hoping to get a resolution that suited all parties but in the end they had to adopt a slight variation on Gough Whitlam’s way by adopting a crash and crash through approach.

Treloar’s head cleared eventually when he met with Western Bulldogs’ coach Luke Beveridge and consulted friends who knew his potential destination and with seconds to go in the trade period, the twinkle-toed midfielder joined his third club.

“I was really relieved at the end of it because I wanted to go to the Bulldogs. I genuinely wanted to get to the Bulldogs and I am all in. Wherever I am, I am all in,” Treloar said.

To understand the logic behind some of Treloar’s decisions it’s important to understand he has always been “all in” when it comes to family, football and the friends he made growing up in Dandenong when money did not flow as freely as the love surrounding him.

“I wear my heart on my sleeve”

Those three things have provide the foundation for him to be who he wants to be, a non-cliched, hard running midfielder who has been nominated for All-Australian selection three times and finished on the podium in three club best and fairests.

They are also a major reason why he was set on staying in Victoria, having moved back from Sydney five years earlier to be near his mum Darlene, stepfather Ken, and old mates.

Such openness has endeared him to footy fans but it also increased the potential impact of Collingwood’s shirtfront when it came.

“I want to show my personality and who I am and how emotionally invested I get in things. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I don’t have a bad thing to say about anybody,” Treloar said.

However his disappointment with what transpired during the off season has been clear.

Most insulting to him was the way he was portrayed publicly as hard to coach and given the impression that his teammates wanted him gone, although his senior coach Nathan Buckley said that was not the message he intended to convey in the brutal phone conversation he had with Treloar post-season that forced the issue.

Buckley has since told AFL Media that Treloar took the business decision personally when it was not one based on personality but hard-headed pragmatism.

“I guess it was hard not to take it personally … I did, but it is kind of hard not to. You put anyone in that position; are they going to take it personally? I think they are,” Treloar said.

“There is a human side to everything. You can’t disregard the human side.”

The two haven’t spoken since but Treloar accepts they probably will at some time down the track.

“There will be a time, I have no doubt there will be a time when we eventually connect and chat and talk about things but for now I have clearly got things on my mind and things that I want to focus on and not really worry about that,” Treloar said.

Those “things” are family and football.

His partner, star netballer Kim Ravaillion, is living in Queensland as she resumes her sporting career one year after their daughter Georgie was born and Treloar embarks on a new chapter with the Bulldogs.

That their decision became somehow an impetus for Collingwood considering the trade also disappointed Treloar because it overshadowed the thought the couple had put into what was a brave choice.

Netballer Kim Ravaillion, Treloar’s partner, with their daughter Georgie, watch on as Treloar has his picture taken.Credit:Getty Images

“The best thing about Kim and which is why I love her so much is that she was more than happy to stay in Melbourne and not play for me, to support me and that was the last thing I wanted her to do because I want her to make the most of her career,” Treloar said.

If that meant a long-distance relationship they decided they would make it work, with Treloar finding the first two days after they left for the Sunshine State the toughest.

He then started training and his bromance with teammate Josh Dunkley – whose sister Lara is also with the Queensland Firebirds (Tim English’s girlfriend Rudi Ellis plays for the Firebirds too) – flourished, helping Treloar settle into his new circumstances.

“It works well. I miss them dearly [but] we’re not doing it for nothing. She is up there chasing something that she clearly wants to achieve and that is to play again at the elite level and win a premiership,” Treloar said.

“I am here doing exactly the same thing at the Western Bulldogs.

“Don’t get me wrong, I have days where I really struggle. I do, but I have just got such a great support system around me.”

He Facetimes his family every day with Kim’s mum, Sina, in Queensland also helping out, delighting in the smiles from Georgie. Visits will be regular with the Bulldogs understanding of the situation as Ravaillion tries to make an impact during the one-year deal she signed in early October.

“One thing [the experience] has done for me, it has really matured me quite a bit. I am 28 but I am still very much a kid at heart. The biggest learning I have got from that whole trade period is that it is a business at the end of the day, that is the biggest learning,” Treloar said.

“It is a business and I was really, really naive to think that it [wasn’t] when push comes to shove no matter who you are if a club is set on a way [then] they will do anything to move you.”

On Friday night, assuming he is over a minor calf issue, he will play for the Western Bulldogs, wearing the No.1 jumper at the MCG against his old mob and the “real kick in the guts” he felt at being portrayed in an unfavourable light will disappear as he enjoys a more pleasant kick up the guts towards the Bulldogs’ goals.

There is plenty for Treloar to look forward to as a new father with a happy partner and the chance to be part of a midfield full of A-graders.

“My motivation is always the same. I am as driven and as motivated as anyone you will ever meet, whether what happened to me happened to me or not I would be the exact same,” Treloar said.

“If you are wondering if it is because of everything that happened with Collingwood, it’s not. It’s no different to what it would normally be. It’s just at a new club, a new motivation at a new club, I’m driven and hanging for the season to start.

“A massive drawcard [in joining the Bulldogs] was because I genuinely believe the group of guys here can be a part of really good success and win a premiership because that is what I want to do.”

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