It was a communication breakdown that forced Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney to break up with the AFL club.

McCartney resigned on Friday with Bulldogs president Peter Gordon saying he agreed with club hierarchy that it was in the side’s best interest to part ways.

McCartney’s position had been under scrutiny following the Bulldogs’ tepid finish to the season, but the board agreed he should stay on last month.

The state of play changed significantly when disgruntled captain Ryan Griffen requested a trade to Greater Western Sydney on Wednesday night.

“I asked Macca whether his best judgment was whether he could overcome these new impediments,” Gordon said at Friday’s press conference at Whitten Oval, which McCartney did not attend.

“He was uncertain and asked us to get some further feedback from key people and we spent a lot of yesterday doing so.”

Gordon did not speak with Griffen, who had previously raised some of the players’ concerns about McCartney’s approach.

Gordon suggested there was “some significant support for Macca” during Thursday’s talks with players and officials.

But Gordon said ultimately the Bulldogs were forced to “make a judgment as senior management and the board to make a change. Macca’s agreed with that”.

Gordon was at his most pugnacious in the 30-minute press conference when it was suggested the players had a say in pushing McCartney out the door.

“That’s a mischaracterisation of what I’ve said,” he said.

“The players and the feedback we got from them on the whole was not one voice … it formed part of the evidence upon which we made a decision.”

Gordon added that analysis such as “the coach has lost the players” and “you can’t let the players run the club” amounted to “aphorisms of the 1960s”.

“Which belie the difficulties, complexities and the sophistication of professional AFL club management in the second decade to he 21st century,” he said.

“Our players do not run this club of course, we do.

“But we make decisions based on evidence and judgment and it’s only appropriate that some of that evidence comes from the players and especially form a critical mass of players.

“In all professional sport we’ve seen that player empowerment is actually a positive thing and an important thing.”

Gordon explained Thursday’s talks with players had been “inspiring” given their love of the club and desire to improve.

Gordon read a prepared statement for almost 12 minutes, outlining his admiration for McCartney.

“He is a very good man. One of the very best men I have ever met,” he said.

Gordon said club powerbroker Chris Grant would play a leading role in finding McCartney’s successor and that he still wanted Griffen to honour the final year of his contract.

McCartney was appointed coach in 2011, when he pipped favourite son Leon Cameron, who is now coaching GWS, and had been contracted until the end of the 2016 season.