NATHAN Buckley has refused to engage in a war of words with former Magpie premiership ruckman Darren Jolly, who branded the Collingwood coach a "coward" in an extraordinary newspaper report on Thursday.

Jolly's storied 237-game AFL career, which started with Melbourne in 2001 and included premierships with the Swans and Magpies, officially ended on Thursday when St Kilda bypassed him in the rookie draft, and he opened up in The Age only a few hours later.

"He [Buckley] probably found it a lot harder accepting that I had opinions about things and would give feedback on certain things that potentially he didn't like,'' Jolly said.

''The day he told me I was no longer needed at the club and they weren't going to renew my contract, the reasons he was giving me were all excuses, and that was probably the main disappointment; that he couldn't man up and tell me face-to-face why I wasn't going to be at the club.''

Jolly played just nine games for Collingwood in 2013 because of rib and knee injuries and by the end of the year was third choice ruckman behind first-year player Brodie Grundy and veteran Ben Hudson.

But according to Jolly, a personality clash between the himself and Buckley was the reason for his departure.

''Just the excuses he (Buckley) gave me in that meeting were all bullshit and that was the hardest thing to stomach, that he was a coward, really. We had a problem. He had an issue with me and I had an issue with him. And I'm not the only one. There's a lot of players there that are in that same boat."

Buckley gave his version of events on SEN on Thursday and played a straight bat.

"It is the worst time of a career when you're going down the other side and it is difficult to manage," he said.

"Darren struggled with his body. He found that tough to deal with and that's the reality.

He denied Jolly's claims that he dodged any issues at the meeting that brought the ruckman’s Collingwood career to a close.

"It's not something you get used to, but when (director of football) Rodney Eade and I sat down and offered him our views, the ears were closed pretty quickly. It wasn't long, it was forthright and it ended pretty quickly."

Buckley also dismissed Jolly's claim of a series of rifts between he and the players, both past and present, arguing that the early signs this pre-season are of "a good vibe and feeling around the place."

But he did admit that a sticking point during the year was an article Jolly penned for The Age that was critical of Josh Fraser, who Jolly replaced as first ruckman for Collingwood when he arrived in 2010.

"It was an issue, no doubt and he was challenged internally on that. But those things happen in footy clubs all the time,” Buckley said.

"There are 45 players and everyone has a view on what happens. It comes down to leadership. He was challenged by the leadership and told it was not in the best interests of the football club."

Magpie president Eddie McGuire also weighed into the controversy, saying Jolly's outburst had left "a bit of a nasty taste".
 
Of the "coward" slur, McGuire told Triple M's Hot Breakfast program: "That is the most inappropriate word for Nathan Buckley that you could ever use. In many ways you would have thought that Nathan's actions... in the last couple of months have been the antithesis of being a coward – he's made the hard calls.
 
"They are the last words that Darren Jolly has said on the way out the door about possibly our greatest ever player and the coach of the Collingwood Football Club and they are not received well this morning by me or by most people in the Collingwood family."

Buckley said that at the appropriate time, Jolly, who he described as a "fantastic player", would be properly farewelled by the club.

"I feel for 'Jolls' at this point of time. He has an arrangement with The Age and the media are looking for these opportunities.

"But these are the most challenging times and different players handle it in different ways. It is the ultimate test of character and some players handle it better than others.

"He is 32 and coming to grips with his football mortality," he said.

"We were really clear that we underperformed last year. A select few weren’t taking us in the right direction, partly because bodies were packing up and guys couldn’t do what they’ve always done."

Fellow premiership player Alan Didak also left Collingwood at the end of last season and was not picked up by any other club, while Heath Shaw and Dale Thomas departed for Greater Western Sydney and Carlton respectively.

"Our list management strategy is clear and we've gone with guys who can take the club forward," Buckley said.