Daniel Wells is a genuine game-changer – when he’s up and running he has the ability to affect a team’s performance like few players in the competition. However, to Nathan Buckley’s discontent, being ‘up and running’ for Wells is often a rarity.
Since bursting onto the seen in 2003 as a number two draft pick, Wells has shown flashes of brilliance – being able to evade tackling pressure and calmly deliver the ball to teammates by either hand or foot.
Wells at his best has been likened to a Rolls Royce. He moves across the ground as smoothly as any player in the competition and finds time no one else can.
Despite being one of the game’s premier talents, during his tenure at North Melbourne, injuries assured that these flashes never translated into consistency. In the age bracket of 24-30, where most players hit their peak, Wells was only able to play an average of 14 games per season.
When Wells was on the field, North were a noticeably better team, as evidenced when Wells returned to help guide the Kangaroos to a preliminary final in 2014, despite only playing ten home-and-away games.
In the first final, against Essendon, Wells was North’s best player, gathering 28 disposals. He followed that up the next week with 22 disposals in the victory over Geelong.
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After appearing in 19 games for the Roos last season, his best return since 2013, it was a no brainer that a team such as Collingwood would offer him a substantial paycheque to boost their finals chances.
Wells was seen as a complement to the hard-nosed midfield brigade of Adam Trelor, Scott Pendlebury and Taylor Adams, but early on it appeared Collingwood’s plan had failed. Wells suffered a hamstring injury in his first training session, sidelining him for the remainder of the preseason.
On Anzac Day, Buckley inserted an underdone Wells into a struggling Pies outfit, where he kicked two crucial goals to go along with 24 disposals in a losing performance – a performance that he would only build on.
Since then, in games that Wells has appeared in the Pies have six wins, one draw and one narrow loss.
His best game to date was in the draw against the top-of-the-table Adelaide Crows, collecting 34 disposals at 82 per cent efficiency, as well as six inside 50s and three goals.
Collingwood look unlikely to make finals, sitting two games out with four rounds remaining, however if Wells can continue his stellar form then they can finish the season on a positive note.
But, as seen throughout his career, this is no certainty.
There isn’t a more aesthetically pleasing sight than Daniel Wells gliding down the middle of the MCG and hitting a forward on the chest. For Collingwood’s sake, let’s hope we see more of this in the next four games.
Pieman
Guest
And by the way Peter the scribe...you also seem a little scared of mr ed.
Pieman
Guest
I have been a pretty passionate pie supporter since i was a kid but this farce with Mguire and Buckley has made me lose my passion. 7 years ago i said this succesion plan wouldnt work and it hasnt no matter what Peter the scribe or mr ed or anyone says. The media seem a little scared of ed...but the reality is its a mistake he will never want to admit so he will keep Buckley as coach otherwise he will look extremely bad. Question for the so wise Peter the scribe...last year where dod you place collingwood on the ladder this year ? In the top 8? Well you were wrong again as you will be next year. Hopefully the internal review will ditch buckley and mr ed.
Gecko
Guest
It'd be interesting to do a poll and see how many Pies supporters agree with such extreme anti-Bucks rants as 'the worst coach in the history, of the AFL/VFL' ... Or anti-Eddie rants as 'you’ve never supported the clubs interests with the AFL, allowing them to screw us time after time. You never tried to do a thing about the umpiring...I am not the only one who will come after you.' My wild guess is 90% agreeing it's time for Bucks to go but less than 5% agreeing with Fatman's extreme rant.
MacGyver
Guest
Why is it that you naively believe your opinion is the only one that counts. This my way or the highway gibberish is clearly reminiscent of motor mouth McGuire. There are literally thousands of Pies supporters out there, who have a right to express their intense dissatisfaction with Buckley should they choose to do so, and if that is unacceptable to the 'Magpie Faithful' then it may well be time for you to take a hike.
Copeland
Guest
It would be interesting to see the results if a credible poll were to be conducted, asking Pies supporters exactly what they thought about Buckley's coaching performance. I recall listening to the 2017 Anzac Day clash post match radio commentary, when the station took calls from around twenty-five individuals, who were almost universally scathing in their sharp criticism of Buckley and calling for his head. The Herald-Sun conducted a poll of sorts at around the same time, asking respondents to nominate the person that they considered to be the best coach in the league, at which time Buckley was ranked 13th attracting 0.9% of the vote overall, and 5.5% amongst supporters of the club. Unfortunately a relative handful of rants or attempt at ranking coaches does not tell the full story as it relates to Collingwood, but it would seem fair to suggest that there is a groundswell of anger and disappointment amongst many Pies supporters; given the failure of the club to even look like improving.
Reality Check
Guest
Agree 100% that FIGJAM Buckley is an out and dud, who is incapable of ever winning a premiership. Unfortunately for Pies supporters, McGuire is currently shaping to reappoint this miserable excuse for a coach.
The Fatman
Guest
Lets all eat some vegemite toast.
The Fatman
Guest
I think after 5 years we had a fair idea how World War 2 was going... In Bill Wannon's Great Book of Australian Humour there is the story of a hundred year old parrot, clinging to life, having lost all his feathers. When someone walked by he would screech at them: "one more bl***y feather and I'll fly!" I would humbly suggest that the parrot has more chance of achieving his dream...
coldpies
Guest
P.S. I was there in '58 with my father, God rest his soul. You have no respect.
coldpies
Guest
Look young fellow, I'm a Pie supporter for life. What infuriates me is your desire for a 'debate' and seemingly wanting to be named a winner. You've stated your case over and over, time to stop being precious. We are entitled to our opinion yet because you aren't mature enough to accept that you throw rubbish at us about being fair weather supporters, etc. Fair bet I've been following footy, read Magpies, for decades longer than you've been on this Earth. Give me a break, son. You wanna debate? Go back to Primary School. To be honest I'm sick and tired of your egocentric and condescending manner. Wanna be a Pro Sports Columnist? Study Journalism and put in the hard yards. Don't bore us all with your self absorbed garbage. You and your fellow students are a 'stain' on this forum. I for one won't bother coming back.
Peter the Scribe
Guest
I see you are indeed a Collingwood supporter so stand corrected on that Fatman. I also share your passion for the Pies and don't see you microwaving your membership should Buckley be reappointed. Have you read "Side by Side" by Peter Ryan? It takes you behind the scenes day in day out at the Holden Centre 2009, the year before our great flag of course. It makes for very interesting reading Fatman...and it highlights that coaching is about the group of coaches not just the bloke at the top. For example, losing Brad Scott, our midfield coach, to North before the 2009 finals was a massive blow and may have been the difference in us knocking the Cats off in the 2009 prelim and making another grand final. Do I think the Pies need a few changes fat? Absolutely I do. Pert is the first, others will follow. My main point is with the blokes they have at the club looking at this, they are better qualified to make the decision than you or I. So really, the main difference between you and I is I am happy for Buckley to stay, you want him to go and have Offered up Brett Ratten....we are both entitled to our opinion.
Peter the Scribe
Guest
coldpies....all I want is the pies to rise again to be the force they deserve to be. We have an amazing facility in the sports centre of Melbourne, the best support you can possibly imagine and with the new culture in place we have become a destination club again. (Treloar, Howe, Wells, etc) I personally don;t believe our list is as bad as made out and I will debate anyone about the succession plan not being anything except an unmitigated success as we achieved the 2010 flag in the midst of it. Your opinion is to remove Buckley, mine is to keep him. Tell me, what will you do if, in a giant theatrical Eddie fanfare, Bucks is appointed for three years with say a Luke Hodge as a new assistant? Will you burn your membership such as a Fair Weather Richmond fan? What will you do?
The Fatman
Guest
keep up the good fight, you speak for many of us, we all love the club dearly which makes the inaction to arrest this slide under Buckley's reign all the more frustrating. This is not to say I don't respect those of you that want Buckley to stay, just disagree that's all. I do agree we have improved this year but are we improving enough? A lot of teams have improved this year, so though we have too, some teams have by far more, so we are still stuck in the middle part of the bottom 10 sides - hardly a good position to be in for 4 years running. Our players also are not as bad as the coach has made some believe when we were in our post bye slump, as evidenced by the last 3 weeks. I do find it bemusing that when we lost those few on the trot after the bye, the coach was straight into the players, it's quite evident that while our list is not star studded, we should have more wins, sure we've been unlucky in a few but we've been lucky in others, and over 5 years of declining performance and at best 11.5 wins this season, it should be a no brainer. But alas we are Collingwood! - and sometimes I think the club was put on earth to drive it's supporters insane! It's not Buckley's win loss that's the problem, it's that in 5 years we've never got better under him. Most of his wins came with the team he inherited, then dismantled. This year is yet to be played out, we might have a marginally higher win loss than last year but we're still well off the pace. He's had all the time, resources and patience a club could give, more than any other coach I can think of but still failed to build anything resembling a serious contender or even a team playing finals. I agree that Buckley appears way more important than Collingwood as a football club right now. We all need to seperate completely Buckley the player from Buckley the coach. Did we care about Malthouse's playing career. No way - he was a successful coach and a forgettable player. Who cares? He got us one of our 2 flags in the last 59 years, and that's what I care about. We need to ignore Buckley playing career now because out Club is going backwards with him as a coach and that is a fact. I have nothing against those that support Buckley, but I was always uncomfortable with the handover without looking at other coaching options. It is a proven failure now, and if they reappoint him it will be a short sighted mistake - again. For what it's worth, my gut tells me McGuire is looking for any excuse to keep Buckley in the job. If we bounce up the ladder it'll be worth it but what if next year is like this? do we look for green shoots again that aren't in the win column and pretend 'next year' again, how long can this go on for? Unfortunately a lot longer given McGuire's inability to be objective and a Collingwood board that can only be described as a bunch of glorified stool pigeons.
coldpies
Guest
Oh dear! Here we go again. Let it go, Peter. We're all entitled to our opinions without continually being insulted in a child-like manner. All coaches are untried until they get a gig. Some will go on and become outstanding coaches, others will fall by the wayside. Why go for a Clarkson, Scott or Longmire anyway? You're the only person offering up these names then ruling them out in the same breath as is your want. Time to get off your high horse, son.
Gecko
Guest
Forgot to add that the Fatman is one extreme version of a Magpies fan. It's one thing to express concern but I didn't know such fire-breathing, venom spitting, all-things-Eddie-hating extremists existed. And he reckons there are thousands of 'em!
Peter the Scribe
Guest
Knoxy, you seem new to this forum. If you check the Roar, you will find there is at least two articles on the Pies a week, sometimes more....I have explained my reasoning for supporting the club and the reappointment of Buckley many times in past articles so I won't bore everyone again with them. I can sum it up for you. I personally believe Buckley is the best candidate moving forward, if not, I hope the club go for Brad Scott. Most of my frustration comes from reading ill informed, illogical rants about Eddie supposedly being a threat to women in society because of the stupid clumsy Icebath event and Pies and non Pies supporters claiming ill thought out claims about "Buckley dismantled a premiership team and gave away all our best players". When I read those type of comments, and knowing that the only two players who left the club and hurt are Heath Shaw and Dayne Beams (left to go be with his sick dad), I can't help defending the club on those decisions. Rants like the Fatman are all over the place, even dissecting a play by play reason for the second half fadeout against the Crows when you can equally argue a play by play for the first half. So don't come in here with your holier than thou ethos after reading three responses, go back look at my arguments and debate me. I am not saying change shouldn't occur and it has already started with the exit of Pert. Footy staff will follow including some assistant coaches. Not one person in here including you, have offered a better available candidate than Nathan Buckley to coach the club in 2018. So get off your lecture lectern and offer your ideas, offer a candidate and a strategy for the club moving forward yourself.
The Fatman
Guest
Something fresh without any nepotism.
The Fatman
Guest
Pete, The history of the Collingwood Football Club shows tht only outsiders to the Club have had success as coach. At the moment, if it was my choice I would give Brett Ratten the no 1 option. He was a good coach at Cartlon who took an ordinary team plus Chris Judd to the finals and has been in the Hawthorn system for a few years now. But there are lot of options out there. Someone new and fresh that has no ties to Collingwood. Leigh Tudor, Stuart Dew, Kent Kingsley should be looked at. Hodge and Mitchell as assistant coaches.
Gecko
Guest
Pretty weird actually that so many clubs could have edged closer to a premiership by recruiting Wells (Geelong, the Swans, Bulldogs, Tigers and many others currently in contention). But they were outbid by a club that was never going to be a top 4 contender in 2017-2018 so Wells is really being wasted!
Knoxy
Guest
Oh FFS Peter. Just because people support the club it doesn't mean they have to blindly agree with everything the club does. Just because people disagree with you it doesn't make them 'fair weather' supporters. The reason people like The Fatman, Coldpies and many others are angry is BECAUSE THEY CARE about the club. I personally don't agree with everything The Fatman says. I think he gets a bit too personal criticising Bucks in his earlier post. However as a Pies supporter who has attended games week in week out for over 20 years I share his pain. The last few years have been an absolute train wreck and something has to change. Whether it's a new coach, assistants or even a clean out of the board that's needed I not sure. Anyway, if you want to defend Buckley then by all means do so. However calling anyone who disagrees with you a 'fair weather' supporter is just childish. Like truetigerfan said, grow up!