Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley wasted no time dismantling a premiership team in an attempt to remodel the Magpies in his own image. But will the short term pain translate to long term gain?
Since the Mick Malthouse era ended with a 38-point defeat to Geelong in the 2011 grand final, Collingwood have been slowly but steadily sliding down the league rankings.
A preliminary final defeat in 2012 was to be followed by a shock home elimination final exit at the hands of Port Adelaide in 2013.
The Magpies are ninth on the AFL ladder, underlining the sustained nature of the club’s slide from the league’s summit to middle-of-the-pack battlers.
On the face of it, these results represent regression. But Buckley still believes the tough decisions made in the early years of his reign will produce dividends in the future.
When Buckley took over as senior coach ahead of the 2012 season, 21 of the victorious 22 from the 2010 grand final replay remained on the playing list. Today, just 13 premiership players remain.
Gone are Dale Thomas, Heath Shaw, Sharrod Wellingham and Chris Dawes, traded to opposition clubs. Nick Maxwell, Alan Didak, Ben Johnson and Darren Jolly have retired, some more willingly than others. Clearly, these are considerable losses, leaving the coaching and recruiting staff with significant gaps to fill.
Buckley did not hide his desire to quell the influence of the so-called ‘rat pack’, preferring professionalism over larrikinism, discipline over indulgence, leadership from the top rather than from the collective.
To this end, the formative years of Buckley’s coaching tenure have been more about bringing together a group of young men willing to create the type of environment seen by the coach as essential to team success, rather than purely achieving results on the playing field.
In Scott Pendlebury, Buckley has a captain laced with class, on and off the field. He is now an experienced senior player and the perfect leader for the next generation of Magpies.
Alex Fasolo and Jamie Elliott have been around the mark for a couple of years. Both have only scratched the surface of what they may eventually be capable of. Fasolo has played bits and pieces as a forward and a backman. He is an elite user of the football and the perfect size for a modern footballer, meaning he is likely to develop into a midfielder as the years progress.
Elliott has averaged over two goals a game as a small forward in 2014. In his 50 games for the Magpies, Elliott has already compiled a highlights reel of spectacular marks and freak goals. He is one of the most exciting talents in the game.
Lachie Keefe, Tom Langdon and Jack Frost form the nucleus of Buckley’s future backline. Though raw, all three have shown enough to suggest bright futures at AFL level.
In Jarrod Witts and Brodie Grundy, Collingwood have an aggressive young ruck duo already blessed with great size and still harbouring great untapped potential.
Marley Williams, Josh Thomas, Tim Broomhead and Nathan Freeman represent further young talent with potential for growth and improvement over the coming seasons.
As for 2014, Buckley will be hoping to produce an upset or two over the next month to avoid the September play-offs being devoid of the black and white army for the first time since 2005.
But if a spot in the finals does not happen to eventuate, you get the feeling that Buckley’s investment in the long term might just produce far greater gains sooner rather than later.
Don Freo
Guest
Pies won't miss. They'll finish 5th or 6th and take out SS or Hawks in the second week of the finals.
harbinger
Guest
With Collingwood now almost certain to miss the 2014 final series, and nothing to suggest that any dramatic improvement can be expected during season 2015, the real question is how long the club can afford to tolerate Buckley as coach. The Pies have obviously shed a wealth of experience and sheer football ability in the likes of Didak, Shaw, Thomas, Jolly, Davis, Johnson, Krakouer, Dawes, Maxwell, Tarrant, Wellingham and Brown; many of whom were forced out of the club by self-obsessed, egotist Buckley’s delusions of grandeur, only to be replaced by a series of duds; including Lynch, White, Russell and Young. The fact is that Buckley is not up to the job, and patently unable to either successfully relate to the playing group, or accept personal responsibility for his consistent failures and fundamental incompetence. Simply put the future looks bleak for the Pies until Buckley can be removed.
Lroy
Guest
Mate, good player that Fasolo... would love to see him in Eagles colours ..beats me why the Pies keep playing him in the backline.. the guy is a natural goal kicker, slots them from anywhere. Fingers crossed he moves west eh?
Jungle
Guest
The draw is so compromised I don't understand why people even bring it up. Who has a fair draw? How many games should Collingwood play away from the MCG? Where would they play them and how would they fit all their supporters in. The AFL draw is extremely unfair and they try to balance it by taking money from the clubs who are wealthiest. The points about about Collingwood travelling don't seem fair to me. Why does Collingwood have to travel and give money to poor clubs? I'd be happy if Collingwood played more away games anywhere and this was the ONLY equalisation measure.
footyfact
Guest
Boy Gene, talk about selective stats. If you went a bit further down your list, you'd have seen a 6 day break after the 5th interstate trip, and then a 6 day break after the 6th. Still, don't let the facts get in the way of the haters. And about those precious timeslots, this week they are about to play the 2nd of 3 Sunday Twilight games in a row. This following the atrocious Sunday night fixture they had the luxury of having. While they do get their fair share of good slots, thanks to their strong membership base, lets not exaggerate about it all.
Cat
Roar Guru
Collingwood play 14 games this year at the MCG Collingwood also play 3 games at Etihad. Thats 17 games in Victoria. That 6 interstate games. 1st interstate game is off a 15 day break. then they spent 6 weeks in Melbourne, including a bye 2nd interstate trip is off a 13 day break then 6 weeks in melbourne again 3rd interstate trip (7 day break before, 8 day break following) then 3 weeks in melbourne 4th interstate trip (7 day break, another nice 8 day break on return) You get the idea by this point. Plenty of rest before and after those rare journeys outside Melbourne. 6 day breaks are rare for Collingwood, and back to back 6 day breaks while playing interstate? unheard of for the precious Pies. All those prime time slots too.
Sammy da Bull
Guest
I couldn't have said it better.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
I admire his coaching more than his playing. Half way through this year all Pies supporters would have been rapt. What we're seeing now is a reality check with some fatigue on young players and the result of losing Maxwell's leadership in the backline. Some comments above compare Collingwood's fortunes post-premiership unfavourably to Geelong's, but there seems to be a key difference in ego and behaviour among the players that have left (e.g. Shaw, Didak, Johnson, Jolly compared to Milburn, Chapman, Harley, Ling, Scarlett, Corey) so I think Buckley, given his unpopularity with this group of players, was smart to move them on and insist on a professional culture with his own authority. He had to stamp his own leadership on the group to have any hope. But was Collingwood smart to employ Buckley as head coach when they already had a ripper? Time will tell, and you're right Gecko, end of next season would be a good time to assess with hindsight. I think Buckley is doing well for a new coach doing his apprenticeship on the run, but they should have stuck with Malthouse.
Gecko
Guest
To the Buckley-haters, I think a less egotistical coach would have gotten more out of the players in 2013, and would probably have been able to keep Daisy and Heath Shaw for 2014. By not getting along with some players, Bucks closed the door on a top-4 finish in 2013 and instead chose to rebuild immediately. To some this was disappointing; to others it gives hope for 2016. The rebuild hasn't been done in bits and pieces like Malthouse is doing with Carlton or Simpson is doing at West Coast. It's been full-on since the start of 2013 and it's blooding one of the best fleets of youngsters in the comp. In essence, Buckley just started the rebuilding a year early. 2014-2015 was always going to have to be a rebuilding period - not a premiership contention period, because we had so many of our 2010 premiership players retiring or slowing down since 2012: think Davis, Brown, Ball and maybe Swan in addition to those mentioned by Theo above. I don't fault Bucks on his rebuilding strategy. The aspect that remains questionable is whether he has the communication skills to get the best out of all different personality types among the playing group. Hopefully, the club will give him 'til mid/late 2015 before making that judgement.
footyfact
Guest
Collingwood should play in Tassie, when Tassie have a team. They currently play Hawthorn at their home ground, and they also play North at their home ground. And since you think that this is such a big advantage to only Collingwood, when was the last time that Essendon, Carlton or even Geelong played at Tassie?
Axle an the guru
Guest
Ive always called him Boofhead Don,since way back when he played for the Bears,he was an overated player and he is not a coaches dunny roll. Worst coach in the league by far. My comment is fact Don,he has ripped a great team to bits. No pat on the back for that.
Don Freo
Guest
I'm hoping they might lose one of their young guns soon. West Coast, needing classy, skilled midfielders should be going hammer and tong to get Alex Fasolo back home. I can't imagine someone with his out there nature is happy just plodding on a half back flank. He can be a god back in Perth.
Don Freo
Guest
You can't challenge Buckley about respect if you insist on referring to Bucks as "Boofhead'. It's silly and consigns your comment to a sledge rather than being taken as a comment worth considering. Call him Bucks or Buckley. It can't hurt.
footyfact
Guest
I think you are missing the point. Besides Geelong and the interstate teams, no other team has a real home ground. Unless they decide to sell a game to Tas, Cairns or Darwin, all Melbourne based teams play the bulk of their games at the MCG or Etihad.
Cat
Roar Guru
Here's the difference, Cats only get 7 home games a year at their home ground ... every other team in the comp gets 11. Why should Geelong have to hop in a car and drive to Melbourne to play a'home' game at Collingwood's home ground? Shouldn't it be the away team driving?
footyfact
Guest
Of course it plays a lot at the MCG and Etihad. They are the only 2 grounds in Melbourne. When Tas have a team, I'm sure the Pies will go and play there. As for Geelong, now there is a team with a real home ground advantage similar to interstate teams, but whereas the interstate teams at least have to travel to play away, Geelong hop in their car and drive an hour to Melbourne. It's a quicker drive than the Hawks drive from Waverley. The MCG is the home ground for about 5 clubs. If you want to give the Pies a real home ground advantage, let them play out of Victoria Park, where they boast a similar win/loss record to the Cats at home.
Cat
Roar Guru
How many games does Collingwood play at the MCG a year, its home ground? Add in how many times it plays at Etihad, how many then? Now go and count how many time it has to travel down to Geelong or to Tassie to play either NM or Hawthorn. Yeah some tough draw having 'away' games at home, travel to those games must be killer.
footyfact
Guest
Very true about these dream draws they get. How fortunate for the Pies that they only have to face GWS, Brisbane, Melbourne, Footscray, Richmond and St Kilda once for the year. 6 of the bottom 7 sides. Still, if you make a statement often enough, people will believe it
Cat
Roar Guru
"The fixture next year will be drawn up squarely through the lens of attendances," McLachlan said. At least next year Collingwood can expect an absolute dream draw, even better than usual I expect.
Axle an the guru
Guest
Boofhead and Chris Scott is the best way to look at things here. They both took over resent premiership winning teams. They were both given the chance of immediate success,something any new coach could only dream about,and look what both have achived. Scott another premiership,Geelong still a top four side. Boofhead a preliminary final an elimination final,this year?maybe no final. There is no reason for Collingwood not to be like Geelong,a top four team,the only difference being Boofheads bullsh:t. Buckley can be happy in the respect that he has shown any young coach what not to do to a strong side.