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Collingwood’s resurgence in 2015 has highlighted the importance of getting club culture right.
Buckley, who last week said Collingwood were a better team than they had been at this stage in 2014, has remodelled his team from the inside out.
He understands his predominantly young playing group – disowning what he called an “old school mentality” of downplaying what the team had achieved after 11 rounds of football and, instead, praising their efforts at the half way mark of the season.
So pronounced the change, Malthouse’s once enduring shadow has all but gone, the team now firmly Buckley’s.
It’s a credit to the Collingwood champion, who had the audacity to refashion a premiership side whose ultimate success was stymied by endemic cultural problems generated from a handful of players known as the ‘rat pack’.
The decision to cleanse the Magpies of those players opposed to the ‘Buckley’ way polarised the football world, particularly Collingwood supporters, who were sad to see the departure of Heath Shaw and the retirements of players, such as Alan Didak and Ben Johnson.
The mentality shared by many was that a premiership side did not need fixing because winning a premiership meant that nothing was broken.
But all too often, behind the facade of success, fractures linger, promising to split wide open if too much pressure is applied.
The fractures have characterised the Gold Coast Suns’ 2015 campaign, where, in the absence of Gary Ablett and strong leadership, the Suns have not only lost 10 out of 11 games, but several of their players have been internally suspended for disobeying club instructions to abstain from drinking.
And this is why success can ultimately be so dangerous – it has the propensity to mask greater problems.
And so, while success is said to breed success, it also provides a justification for behaviour that belies standards set by the team.
This year, in the absence of on-field success, the Suns have had nowhere to hide.
But, it’s the ultimate measure of success – a premiership – that can leave teams blind sighted to greater cultural and social problems at the club.
This was the case at Collingwood – the 2010 premiers and 2011 runners-up – where the rat pack were given several get out of jail free cards by the administration when Malthouse was coach.
And it’s not an isolated narrative.
The West Coast Eagles’ fall from grace was well documented and remains as a constant reminder of the perils of allowing individual brilliance to belie team standards.
In his biography, Iron Eagle, Dean Cox, the former Eagles’ ruckman, highlighted the extent of the Eagles’ drug problems when then coach, John Worsfold, had to call in each and every member of the team and individually ask whether that player was taking illicit substances.
Ben Cousins’ drug addiction was tolerated for far too long because of his supreme talent and, although the Eagles tasted premiership success in 2006, the fallout from Cousins’ departure eventually saw West Coast bottom out as wooden spooners in 2010.
While Collingwood failed to bottom out, they managed only eighth position in 2013 and a disappointing eleventh in 2014, leading many to question whether Buckley’s decision to refashion the team was the right one.
Now, with the team sitting comfortably in fourth position, finals and the promise of a top-four finish are on the horizon.
And it’s all because of the team-first standard driven by Buckley.
Indeed, Collingwood’s handling of Lachlan Keeffe’s and Josh Thomas’ positive clenbuterol samples – in which the club has totally distanced itself from the players – goes some way in explaining the attitudinal shift at Collingwood under Buckley.
He may have gone two steps backwards to go one step forward, but Buckley’s decision to challenge his playing group and make them play for him has certainly started to pay dividends.
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