Taylor Adams has taken aim at his former club Collingwood for the way they treated him at the end of last year.
Adams surprised all at the end of last year’s trade period when requesting a trade to the Sydney Swans considering he played 23 games in the black and white in 2023 and was a key player throughout his time at the club.
The 30-year-old has been open about his move in recent months, but speaking on the Unlaced Podcast on Tuesday, Adams revealed some fresh details that left him feeling “phased out” by a club he played 191 games for across nine seasons.
Adams said he was disappointed with the communication from coach Craig McRae and football boss Graham Wright both during the season and the days following the Grand Final win - a game Adams missed due to a hamstring injury.
Played as more of a high half-forward in the second half of last year, Adams’ numbers and output dropped off significantly and it wasn’t reflective of how he was feeling and the good footy he felt he had still to offer.
“Yes, I was pretty disappointed by the feedback and the transparency that I got from Collingwood throughout the year,” Adams said.
“In a nice way, they phased me out and it felt a lot like that.”
Adams revealed that he met with the Sydney coach John Longmire and CEO Tom Harley on the Wednesday following the Grand Final for preliminary conversations whilst conceding to the Swans that he intended on staying at Collingwood for season 2024.
“I ended up meeting with John (Longmire) and the Swans on the Wednesday and was transparent with John and said, ‘Look, my preferred route is to not move but I said I’ve got to make a decision in my head because footy doesn’t last forever and I feel like I’ve got some more to offer’, and he said, ‘Absolutely, completely understood’. He was fantastic and so was Tom Harley and everyone up at the Swans,” Adams added.
However after meeting with McRae and Wright the next day, Adams knew the writing was on the wall and if he was to continue playing good footy in 2024 and beyond, he had to leave the Pies.
But it was a certain comment and the actions that followed from McRae that left Adams hurting.
“I then met with 'Wrighty' (Wright) and 'Fly' (McRae) on the Thursday and Fly basically said, ‘Nothing is going to really change next year, we think you do a great job in the role that you’re playing’, and I thought, to be honest, he was blowing wind up my ass,” he conceded.
“As I said before, I had to make a decision with my head and I actually didn’t hear from Fly at all again which hurt me. He should’ve called me and had the hard conversation but I can understand why he didn’t as he just won a flag and had a baby and there was a lot going on.
“I don’t have any hard feelings about it.”
Despite injuring his knee against Brisbane in the pre-season, Adams has featured three times for the Swans this season where he’s averaged 17.3 touches.
The Swans and Adams play GWS in a massive Sydney Derby on Saturday afternoon.
The Pies and Swans met in Round 1 but Adams missed due to injury.