The winds of change are blowing at gale force through Collingwood, with 2010 premiership heroes Alan Didak and Darren Jolly leading six delistings at the AFL club.
Andrew Krakouer, Carlton recruit Jordan Russell and rookie-listed players Ben Richmond and Michael Hartley are also gone.
The departures came three days after the upset elimination final loss to Port Adelaide, which prompted coach Nathan Buckley to say hard questions had to be asked at the club.
There is ongoing speculation about the future of star midfielder Dale Thomas, who is about to become a free agent and is in Carlton’s sights.
Heath Shaw’s brain fades in the second term against Port have brought renewed focus on his playing future, but he has received strong support from captain Nick Maxwell.
Didak and Jolly want to keep playing, with Jolly’s manager Paul Connors telling the AFL website that the ruckman was in good shape.
“Contrary to popular belief his body is feeling great, he is up for the next challenge and he is keen to play on,” Connors said.
Halfway through this season, Jolly was Collingwood’s No.1 ruckman before his stocks diminished dramatically and youngster Brodie Grundy made a stunning AFL debut.
Didak, 30, was a fan favourite at Collingwood and the small forward regularly starred in his 218 games for the Magpies.
But his career was also marred by off-field misbehaviour, including a minor car accident that led to Didak and Shaw being suspended for the end of the 2008 season.
Didak and Shaw are members of the so-called “Rat Pack” at Collingwood that also includes Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan.
There has been speculation about struggles between Buckley and some of his players, but top midfielder Scott Pendlebury said the talk was false.
“It’s always challenging, but there’s a perception out there it’s Bucks versus the rest,” Pendlebury said.
“That’s completely untrue.
“It’s frustrating this year because we won a lot, we lost a lot as well and we were really inconsistent as a team.”
But Pendlebury and captain Nick Maxwell separately said in the media on Tuesday that the team culture needed work.
“I think on the weekend we showed we’re probably just a middle of the rung side,” Pendlebury said.
Maxwell was scathing, saying: “right at the moment, our culture isn’t good enough, because culture does come down to winning and in the last two years we haven’t won enough games for what we want to achieve.”
But Maxwell also strongly supported Shaw, who clashed with Port opponent Angus Monfries on Saturday night and gave away a stupid free kick that resulted in a goal.
“We haven’t helped him enough as a backs group … I feel he’s been tagged a lot of times and we’ve just asked him to win that contest, rather than trying to help him out in getting the ball and allowing him to do what he does best,” Maxwell said.
“That’s definitely something we’ve spoken about over the last month and sometimes we’ve done it well and sometimes we’ve done it poorly.
“Obviously over the weekend we didn’t do it that well, either.”