Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says his sympathy lay with an embarrassed Lin Jong after news of the off-contract player's meeting at Collingwood headquarters slipped out last week.
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Beveridge said had been surprised the Pies had expected the meeting to remain confidential.
"If you're going to talk to a player, the priority needs to be secrecy," Beveridge told 3AW on Sunday.
"The clubs need to have a shroud or veil over the top of it, so no one can see you.
"If you're going to do that you're taking a considerable risk ... and there are plenty of eyes around.
Beveridge said it would not affect his relationship with Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley. "It was just surprising that they would think they'd be able to pull it off.
"Jongy obviously, with his descent, stands out in terms of his ethnic background, and is pretty easy to identify in a different environment."
The other Bulldogs players jokingly presented Jong with a Collingwood guernsey after the midfielder found himself on the back pages, and Beveridge said he had felt for him.
"Lin is an impressionable young man who, I suppose, was quite vulnerable in this situation because he was assured by his management this was a done thing, so he went along with it.
"If anything we had some sympathy for Jongy, because he was the one whose name was in the public domain.
"We tried to help him, get him through it more than anything."
Buckley said that while the Magpies rarely engaged in the practice, Adam Treloar had also toured their facilities last year prior to joining the club from Greater Western Sydney.
Buckley said that while upset Jong's visit had become public, it was the leak – not the visit itself – that was the issue for Collingwood.
"I feel for Lin himself, because we don't want to be in that situation," Buckley told Triple M.
"If we knew it was going to play out publicly we wouldn't have done it."
He again defended the club's invitation.
"Clearly we like the player. Clearly he's not engaged beyond this year with his current club and his management and our list manager felt there might be potential for a discussion.
"That takes place relatively consistently.
"Even with Adam Treloar last year, clearly there was an opportunity to meet with him earlier."
