Bulldogs AFL player Caleb Poulter’s girlfriend reveal his shocking reaction to Collingwood axing

Western Bulldogs mid-season draftee Caleb Poulter and his influencer girlfriend have described Poulter’s shocking reaction to being delisted by Collingwood last year.

Poulter, who was pick No. 30 in the 2020 Draft, played just 12 games for Collingwood across 2021 and 2022 before being surprisingly delisted. He has since been picked up by the Bulldogs in this year’s midseason draft. 

The 194cm left-footer found out that he was axed over the phone while holidaying in Bali with his partner Sam Guggenheimer, and the 20-year-old footy star did not take the news well.

‘I come out (of the villa) and you were bawling, you were crying,’ Guggenheimer said on the Just For Girls podcast.

‘You just said ‘I’ve been delisted’, those are the words you said ‘I’ve been delisted, I’ve been dropped’.

Poulter’s axing put stress on his relationship and footy star ghosted his teammates

‘From there, we tried to enjoy our holiday but I think there were a lot of questions above our heads.’

Guggenheimer said the shocking news caused Poulter to ‘ghost’ everyone – including his Collingwood teammate and then-housemate Jack Crisp.

‘You were very bad at communicating with people, you ghosted everyone, you ghosted your teammates, you ghosted Jack, you ghosted your coaches, you were like ‘f— them’ in a way,’ she said.

‘I think you were a bit angry, you didn’t really have any answers, no-one really answered your questions so you were kind of like ‘f— this’ and you threw it all up.’

The young gun believes he ‘fell out of favour’ with the coaches at Collingwood – and he dealt with the issue the wrong way.

‘I was obviously pretty upset at the time,’ he said.

‘Instead of dealing with it in the right way, I just stopped replying to everyone.

‘I think I was just one of the ones that fell out of favour and that’s just how it is sometimes in a professional environment.’

The former Magpie made his debut for the Western Bulldogs against Fremantle

Guggenheimer said the change was hard on the pair’s relationship, too.

‘You were trying to get an AFL contract but I don’t think you were necessarily working hard for it, you lost a bit of confidence and faith,’ she said.

‘Going from you being drafted, you having a full-time career in AFL, earning lots of money, having all these friends … everything had changed.

‘Looking at you with no confidence and no drive in your soul because you were so hurt, it was hard for our relationship.’

Poulter had 12 disposals in his Western Bulldogs debut two weeks ago at Marvel Stadium against Fremantle, his first AFL game since playing Round 9, 2022.