In seven days time, Nathan Buckley will be the coach of the Collingwood Football Club and the events of 2011 will be a distant memory, with focus will shifting to the 2012 season and Buckley facing a baptism by fire and tough list management decisions.
Retiring in 2007, Buckley played with and captained several players of Friday night’s team, who beat Hawthorn, players who are now approaching the end of their careers.
Leon Davis (30), Alan Didak (28), Ben Johnson (30), Nick Maxwell (28) and Chris Tarrant (31) all face the prospect of reduced playing time in 2012.
Recent coaching appointments of favourite sons Michael Voss and Matthew Primus to their respective clubs Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide have led to strained relationships between coach and veteran players.
The disenchantment of veterans who are asked to make way for younger players has led to internal feuding and outcries of disrespect by fans.
The departures of Daniel Bradshaw (219 games), Luke Power (282 games) at Brisbane and Chad Cornes (239 games) and Dean Brogan (174 games) at Port have created tension within their clubs resulting in their disappointing departures.
The latter three now appear set to join Greater Western Sydney in a bid to prolong their playing careers, each still being capable footballers.
The key differential between Voss/Primus and Buckley is that Buckley will be taking over when the club’s premiership window is open and there is no need to gift games into youngsters yet.
Trade week begins on October 10 and Buckley will have only eight days to sit down with each player on the list to discuss their future at the club.
From the list of veterans who played alongside Buckley, Davis has expressed a desire to return to Western Australia, Didak has struggled all year, Maxwell and Johnson are fringe players while Tarrant faces the return of Nathan Brown coming off an ACL injury.
The five all hold significant trade currency and would relieve salary cap pressure with Chris Dawes is yet to resign with the club, while Scott Pendlebury and Ben Reid lead the list of players out of contract next season.
As evidenced by Geelong, repeated All-Australian awards and premierships increase player payments significantly which lead to Geelong’s eventual loss of Gary Ablett.
If Buckley opts for a proactive approach in offloading two or three of the veterans, the slack created in the salary cap may be enough to avoid a raid, although Tarrant and Johnson are currently on low salaries anyway.
Buckley can take the club in one of two directions:
1. Ride the coattails of Mick Malthouse.
Convince Leon Davis to play on with a lucrative contract which would be offset by the veterans list.
Retain the other veterans and let them know they will be playing for their spot every week, and will not be automatic selections.
Keep Collingwood as premiership contenders for another two years.
2. Stamp his authority on the club.
Trade Davis, package Didak and Johnson for a first round pick.
Appoint a new captain, demote Maxwell and Tarrant on the depth chart. Offer long term contracts to Pendlebury and Reid.
Collingwood extend their premiership window to four to five years.
Although the second option seems extreme, it will take a wooden spoon for Buckley not to coach the Collingwood Football Club for the next five years.
Unfortunately for Buckley, there is not enough time to see what happens at Geelong where Chris Scott has opted for the first option.
In the upcoming 12 months, Geelong will lose around 6-10 premiership players and the same thing may happen to Collingwood in two years time.
The first option runs the risk of bottoming out, while the second risks disrespecting the players who were once good mates.
Buckley’s activity over the upcoming trade period will provide a valuable insight into his coaching mantra and player relationships, and will provide an interesting post-script to the season.
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