“It was a bit of a non-incident. Obviously it’s blown up into something more serious, which isn’t nice. But in house it was an innocuous incident.”

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It was just seven weeks ago when rumours emerged that Zadkovich had a falling out with defender Mark Beevers and forward Ryan Williams.

Zadkovich shot those rumours down at the time, and he was disappointed that more untruths have surfaced.

“The football world works in funny ways. It’s not the first time this year we’ve encountered something similar, about Ryan Williams, Mark Beevers and myself in a bust-up,” Zadkovich said.

“I’m not sure where the rumours are starting. It’s not nice. It’s not a nice thing for a club to have to deal with or myself, they’re pretty serious allegations.

“It’s not nice to turn on the news when you’re at home with the family and see those type of accusations.

“It was a bit of a non-event.”

Zadkovich said he had a special relationship with Colli.

“My relationship with G has been a great one,” Zadkovich said.

“It’s one that I treasure. I’ve had G as a player now for three years. He was my captain in the youth team.

“Through COVID when he was stuck on the east coast, he was eating dinner at my house in Newcastle and driving my car.

“The love is certainly there, and we’ll continue building that relationship and really building hard together.”

AAP