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Adam Cooney: Brutal exit interview that saw Bulldogs trade me
SEN • August 28th, 2025 12:12 pm
It’s exit interview time of year, and Adam Cooney has lifted the lid on just how brutal, unpredictable and forgettable they can be.
The 39-year-old former Bomber and Bulldog said the process for players is truly the last thing they feel like doing after their campaign for the year has ended with the get togethers often arranged just after Mad Monday celebrations.
Lifting the lid on the only one he remembered from his career – which also turned out to be his dismissal from the Bulldogs - Cooney said he was relatively blindsided by what played out.
“Definitely the one that sticks out is when I was traded from the Dogs, so 2014," he said on SEN Breakfast.
“Going into 2013, I just signed a new two year deal, so I thought I'll see out my time at the club.
“In 2014 I changed a lot about my diet; I was actually in the best physical condition I think that I've ever been in in my career and I remember about halfway through the year, I did my hamstring, and I missed three or four weeks and my knee was pretty rotten.
“At that stage, I wasn't doing a lot of training, so it's just wore me down mentally. I felt really down and I was flat for the majority of that year.
“I got into my exit meeting and there was the high-performance manager was in there - which was odd - and the line coaches and obviously the coach (Brendan McCartney).
“They sat me down and asked, ‘what do you think about year’?
“They questioned my commitment of that year and I thought, well, it wasn't so much to do with my commitment, it was the injury that I had because it affected me more mentally than I probably let on.
“They thought it was a commitment issue and said ‘you haven't played up to standard’.
“I agreed with that and I argued back.
“They basically said ‘we are either going to pay your contract out and you'll be playing VFL next year, or you're going to be at another club’.
“I was a bit taken aback by that but by that stage you've lost the faith of the coaches, so I walked out thinking ‘definitely time for a change’.
“Apart from that, I don't think I can remember another exit meeting.
“After you've finished the season and then you have mad Monday, by the time you have your exit chat all you want to do is go home, crawl up and shrivel up into a ball and go to sleep.
“The last thing you want to do is have three coaches grilling you about your performances.”
