Collingwood has reportedly withdrawn an $800,000, two-year contract offer to Jordan De Goey following his recent trip to Bali.
With that in mind, De Goey’s former coach Nathan Buckley has commented on the talented yet flawed Magpie.
Buckley believes the 26-year-old should be content with whatever comes his way from a club that has stuck by him through numerous indiscretions.
“I was of the opinion at the beginning of the year that Jordy should just take what Collingwood offers him and repay the faith,” Buckley said on SEN’s Whateley.
“And I’m still of that opinion.
“I suppose in the subtext of that is I feel that Collingwood should not pay top dollar for Jordan De Goey.
“I think they should offer him what they’re prepared to pay him and that he should just accept that and say, ‘thank you for your support, for your guidance and understanding as I try and navigate my life to go from being a young man who has made some blues to being a better contributor and better person and more contributory to a greater environment, not just on the field but off the field’.
“I still think that if the club chooses to continue with him, I think that should be their parameters that they continue with him on. I think Jordy should be pretty thankful if that occurs.
“He’s still a young guy but he’s got to make better decisions and he’s got to decide to put people around him that are going to help him make better decisions.”
Buckley insists that he has no understanding of what Collingwood will do and if they will take any action after the Bali footage came to light.
“I can put a disclaimer up the front that I’m no longer involved with the football club, that I don’t have intimate knowledge of their thoughts, their conversations, but only 12 months ago I was in there and for the best part of my life, I have been part of this football club that’s being scrutinised really heavily at the moment,” he added.
“And (I have) relationships with individuals that we’re talking about, so it’s a difficult position to be in (but) I will speak openly and I will give my opinion.”
The Collingwood champion says what happened in Bali is not something that should undo De Goey, but acknowledges that in hindsight it was a poor decision to travel overseas on a mid-season break and then issue a statement in the aftermath.
“I’m really uncomfortable right now, I have to declare that, because I think in isolation what Jordy did is not a hanging offence, but when you put it against his past, when you put it against the situation that the club was in, in a really positive space, to make the decision to go to Bali, at the time it should have had red flags all over it, but in retrospect it clearly was a bad decision,” Buckley said further.
“To try and defend yourself after the fact was a really bad decision and it’s created a situation that the club didn’t need.
“It’s totally off the football field, it’s out of the football department and it’s away from anything Craig McRae can control or should be accountable for, or Graham Wright, or Jeremy Howe, or Scott Pendlebury or Taylor Adams.
“This is separate of them. You can lead a horse to water, but it’s up to the person to make the right decisions at the right time, with the support of the people he chooses to listen to.
“It was a bad call… and now you’re accountable to wherever it goes from here.”
De Goey is contracted with the Magpies for the remainder of the 2022 season.
The club is yet to publicly comment on the matter.
On Monday, Gerard Whateley described De Goey as “unrecruitable” when pondering what might be next for the 130-game talent provided another Collingwood contract does not come his way.