THE FATHER of Collingwood forward Chris Mayne says his son has been thrown "under the bus" after coach Nathan Buckley said there had been "a few things mixed up" with his recruitment last year.

Mayne was signed to a four-year deal by the Magpies at the end of last season but had a disappointing 2017, kicking two goals in the first three games before being dropped to the VFL for the rest of the season.

Speaking on SEN on Friday, Buckley said: "It’s been a tough year for 'Mayney' and we’ve got some decisions to make going forward with that, but that hasn’t been a great result in the first 12 months".

The coach noted that the club's director of football position had been changing and said: "There were a few things mixed up with that" when speaking about Mayne's recruitment.

"Bulls---, Buckley was in those meetings, now hedging bets and a player suffers through zero fault of his own," Mayne's father Steve said in the first of three tweets that have since been deleted.

"Perhaps you should ask if Buckley was in the original meeting, and the role discussed? 2 sides to a story.

"Really! Bottom 2 or 3 for forward pressure? Who did you recruit to play that role? gave him 3 games. now throw him under the bus."

On Saturday afternoon, the ex-Docker lined up in a VFL elimination final against Richmond, slotting an important goal in the final term to drag the Pies back into the contest before they eventually went down by 12 points.

Chris Mayne misses to make it a ONE GOAL GAME. 31 mins down.



Who wins from here?#PJVFL pic.twitter.com/ORV65kTday — 7VFL (@7VFL) September 2, 2017

Mayne arrived at the Magpies as a free agent after 172 games with Fremantle, where he established himself as a pressure forward, kicking 198 goals, including a career-best 39 in 2012.

Graeme Allan was in charge of the Magpies' football department at the time of Mayne's recruitment but was soon replaced by Geoff Walsh after being suspended for 12 months.