For a club that proudly claims to stand SIDE BY SIDE, Collingwood has done anything but.
They have mistreated a group of star players and treated its fans like fools this past fortnight.
Last week, coach Nathan Buckley tweeted angrily in response to a concerning report out of the Magpies. He denied having a conversation with midfielder Adam Treloar about moving him on.
"The constant rumour and innuendo is disrespectful to Adam, the club and our supporters. We’ll continue to communicate directly and sensitively with Adz and his management," the statement read.
Well, one week later, Treloar is gone for a bag of chips and Collingwood is paying for him to play for another club for the next five years.
It’s clear now – if you believe the other young star who was shipped out in the garage sale yesterday – Jaidyn Stephenson – that the club didn’t deal with him sensitively.
He was traded to North Melbourne yesterday – also for a bag of chips – and here is how the club communicated with him during this difficult time.
“My manager came to me and then I heard nothing from the club,” the 2018 Rising Star said.
“I gave Bucks a call myself to see what was going on and how it was, and he just pretty much said, ‘mate, look for a trade as aggressively as you want and we’ll try to facilitate it’.
“There wasn’t a very clear reasoning or anything, but I think it’s all worked out for the best.”
Stephenson also admitted that Buckley was the only senior Collingwood figure that he spoke to. And it was him, a 21-year-old, who is entering only his fourth season, being forced to initiate that uncomfortable situation.
In 2018, the Collingwood Football Club celebrated its brightest star and AFL Rising Star winner Jaidyn Stephenson by wheeling him out on all the membership packages.
12 months later, they handed him a lucrative four-year contract.
Yesterday, they gifted him to North Melbourne.
Most of us can understand mistakes in any field, particularly if the person or club that has made them confronts it and acknowledges it.
The most difficult thing out of Collingwood’s garage sale is that they aren’t being up front with the hundreds of thousands of Collingwood members who have supported the club financially in their most difficult year.
Everyone knows it was an exploding salary cap that has forced these decisions upon the club, however the Magpies just won’t admit it.
The architect behind the Collingwood sell-off is list boss Ned Guy. He spoke unconvincingly yesterday when he was quizzed on the health of the salary cap.
In part, he denied that there was any issues with the salary cap and this fire sale, or garage sale, was designed about improving their list.
Not sure most Collingwood fans would stomach that.
"We want to go to the draft and improve our list" is obviously going to be the party line the club agreed to wheel out publicly. They’d be better served by calling it for what it is.
Collingwood got weaker, the opposition got stronger and your members are hurting.
They still have enough talent, experience and star power on their list to be highly competitive again next year, however, premierships are so hard to win.
To achieve it, as highlighted by Richmond and the dynasties before them, the culture of the club needs to be rock solid with complete buy-in from the players, coaches and staff.
It remains to be seen the damage that’s been done at the Magpies in the last fortnight but my guess is it will be significant.
It’s the famous Magpie Army, through no fault of its own, that may suffer the most.