Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire announces his resignation from the position last month. Photo: AFL MEDIA

There is a false narrative emerging at Collingwood that if allowed to flourish will ruin any chance of the club properly dealing with its racist past.

That is the assertion by the former president Eddie McGuire that he had to quit because of a “misstep” at the news conference called to respond to the “Do Better” report.

McGuire in his opening remarks described it as a proud day for the club, a choice of words that he says “people took the wrong way.” Rubbish. It was a dumb choice of words and deeply insensitive to those at the club who had experienced racism.

Let’s be absolutely clear about this. Whatever way McGuire and the club now try and present it, he needed to go not because of how he initially responded to the report, but because of what the report said: that the club had a problem with systemic racism, that it didn’t understand or recognize racism, and was therefore unable to combat it structurally.

More than that, as a club it was unable to understand the experiences of indigenous players, and to see and hear what they saw and heard.

McGuire had to go because of that. He was the president. He had to accept ultimate responsibility. If he’d had an unblemished record to fall back on, then maybe he could have survived. But on the contrary.

His background was littered with problems in the racism space – the Adam Goodes “King Kong” remarks and the tolerance of Sam Newman’s appalling performances on “The Footy Show” (who can really accept that when Newman walked on to the set with a black face that the host had no idea that was coming).

He had been there too long, anyway. Agents of change do their best work early. Then they taper off. In McGuire’s case, he became too central to everything. There wasn’t a fight of which he didn’t want to be a part. And like an albatross around his neck, his many conflicts of interest were obvious to everybody, except apparently the board.

And just a reminder: when vice-captain Steele Sidebottom last year breached numerous protocols in that ill-fated late night visit to the home of teammate Daniel Wells – an incident that denied the club four weeks of his services – McGuire’s response then was to say how “proud” he was of the player.

“He didn’t squeal and he didn’t complain. He took four weeks on the chin,” he said.

The problem with large parts of the media embracing McGuire’s false narrative is that he becomes the victim in the whole sorry episode.

He should take his place in a long queue.

The real victims are Heritier Lumumba, who suffered a decade of racial vilification – nicknamed “the chimp” – and to this day is still waiting for justice.

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Or the great Leon Davis, who now says that McGuire may have stepped down, but the issue has not gone away.

“I’m still very disappointed and very hurt,” Davis says.

And Andrew Krakouer, who stood in front of his locker and overheard outrageous racial slurs.

“What am I doing here?” he asked himself. “I really wondered if this is where I should be.”

Now a new season presents and on the field there is real potential for supporters to become restless about football management beyond racism.

How did the club get itself into a position that it had to let go Adam Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson and Tom Phillips?

Enough has been said and written about the Treloar trade and how last Friday night he accumulated 18 possessions at his new club the Western Bulldogs, and how with their superior midfield, they put Collingwood to the sword.

But what about Jaidyn Stephenson? Recruited at pick six in the 2017 draft, Stephenson lived up to the hype by being named the AFL Rising Star in his first year. If he had problems invisible to the rest of us, then the club should have sorted that out rather than take the easy way out and discard him. On Sunday, he picked up 33 possessions with his new club, North Melbourne, in a losing side.

A mate, a North Melbourne supporter, phoned to say : “I know we’re getting pumped but Jesus that Stephenson can play.”

Just a reminder. North Melbourne got Stephenson, Atu Bosenavulagi and pick 39 for picks 26, 33 and the clincher, a future fourth-round pick.

And at Hawthorn, another discard, Tom Phillips, gathered 21 possessions, more than Treloar, in the Hawks’ extraordinary win over Essendon. Below par for Phillips. At Collingwood in 2018 and 2019, he averaged 25 possessions as a wingman. Then he was shifted to the forward line where he averaged 16. He actually kicked more goals as a wingman.

He was traded for pick 65. Phillips is just 24. And by all accounts an exemplary individual.

Both on the field and off, Collingwood has a lot of work to do.

The club eventually tried to explain why it let such talent go. The members don’t have to accept it, but at least they got a bit of honesty.

The club will eventually give McGuire the send-off he deserves – for all the major achievements, the passion and the growth. But it must be upfront in the meantime about why he had to go. Otherwise, all the upset will have been for nothing.