Adam Treloar has given a fresh, emotional account of his "s–tstorm" Collingwood exit, saying that seeing his fiancee – netball star Kim Ravaillion – dragged into the split was most hurtful.
Treloar said that while he still loved Collingwood, he was devastated at how the club acted in offloading his $4.5 million, five-year contract to ease salary cap pressure.
Treloar confirmed reports of being told by Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley that the club feared he would struggle mentally with Ravaillion and their daughter, Georgie, living away in Queensland while on a new netball contract.
"I was told what I was told," Treloar said on Fox Footy. "That the mental health side of things and not being able to deal with Kim being away … Bucks told me that.
It remains a hurtful topic, even as the start of his first season with the Western Bulldogs looms. Treloar moved during last year's trade period, with Ravaillion recently accusing Collingwood of telling "s–tty lies" to prompt the move.
"You're gonna start making me cry, and I don't wanna cry," Treloar said..
"Just disappointed, you know, because I throughout all of last year … Kim being pregnant and going through everything she went through with her own mental health …
"She took time away from the game before the pregnancy and fell out of love with netball, and then became pregnant and really appreciated the game again and really pushed herself to get back.
"I watched that closely and from afar, and it was just motivating, and I absolutely loved it. It's what pushed me through every day and got me through the hub, being able to see Kim and my daughter.
"And then for it to get turned on her, the whole re-signing at Queensland, coming back and being able to now train and play in a couple of months at the highest level. To have that used against her and turned into a story with me, that was probably the most hurtful thing, because the story it should've been was this incredible woman who sacrificed her body for nine months to have Georgie and not play at the professional level, to then make a comeback and sign for a club where she's wanted to play for for such a long time.
"For her to do that and for that message to get missed was really, really challenging for me."
Treloar agreed with the suggestion that the saga had "ruined his football experience to a degree".
"My maturity over the last two to three months has definitely grown in spades. Not that I'm immature but I'm a big kid at heart, and I'm pretty naive to a lot of things," Treloar said.
"I was definitely naive to think that I was untouchable in a way. Which, I never thought that but I had a five-year contract, I was contracted to the footy club, I didn't think I was going to have to move on.
"In my mind, it's made footy more of a business and it is a business at the end of the day. If the club wants you to move on, they'll do anything they can to move you on, and I well and truly experienced that."
Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs meet in round one of the AFL on Friday. Treloar will be entering the clash with sadness rather than animosity.
"I don't go out there and think, 'I was treated wrong. I was treated bad. It was bulls–t. I'm just going to show everyone'. I'm not like that," he said.
"I think about it now and it can still really pull at the heartstrings for me, because it took me a long while after that trade period to get over the fact that I wasn't playing for Collingwood any more.
"It was a place I love, I absolutely love, I love the players there, I love the people there, I loved playing for that football club. It's the footy club I wanted to retire at and finish my career at. I love the fans there, I felt like I had a really good relationship with the fans.
"It took a while for me to get over for the fact I wasn't going to play for Collingwood. That was the thing that made me so emotional, because I wasn't playing for the footy club."
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