That is a myth perpetuated by the fact that according to the media, there has never been a player to come out of contract that wasn't offered a huge deal by Collingwood.
Of the big names traded in recent years, we've thrown our hat in the ring for two of them - Nathan Brown and Chris Judd.
In both cases, the player chose his destination before the trade period and we were never given a real chance to deal.
Name me one instance in which we actually prevented a deal from going through with a player who wanted to come from the club by refusing to offer a FAIR price.
Yes, we have refused to be bent over a barrel in a trade (i.e. the Nick Stevens deal, where Port were asking for Didak & pick 17), and we have even overpaid in some deals, but rarely have we actually missed out because of our refusal to meet the price.