Collingwood’s self-made apocalypse marches on proudly

5th September, 2017

Nathan Buckley probably did enough in the last six weeks to keep his job – but did he do enough in the last six years? And really, why wasn’t that the question driving the discourse surrounding his fate?

The argument, oddly, for Buckley keeping his job is that we still have no idea whether he’s a good coach or not. His reappointment is barely a reflection on him – it is an indictment of the club.

As a player, Buckley was almost never put in a position to succeed. In his prime while Collingwood briefly contended, arguably the two best players he played alongside were James Clement and Chris Tarrant.

As a coach, he’s been similarly ill placed. Last off-season was a minor cataclysm for Collingwood, with Buckley remarkably revealing that the disastrous signing of Chris Mayne, who is not good at football, to a $2 million deal, was the result of something approaching miscommunication.

What does that even mean? Was there a muffled phone conversation where a truck suddenly passed and a list manager confused a ‘no’ for a ‘yes’? Did an errant printer accidentally put an additional zero at the end of Mayne’s contract offer that was never picked up on?

The processes behind the scenes at Collingwood since late 2011 haven’t typically approached these levels of farce but they haven’t exactly been clearheaded either. This is a club that tore down a young, ascending premiership squad for culture reasons, and then looked to piece it back together with the sad duct tape of Jesse White, Quinten Lynch and Jordan Russell.

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

The list management, which to be fair, Buckley has surely had a strong say in, has been abominable. The team has recruited poorly, plucking expired veterans and dedicating themselves to building a team of unskilled battlers.

Jeremy Howe is the one raging success story, and that appears to be something of a fluke – he was signed to play forward, struggled mightily there, and then only became a revelation in the backline out of desperate necessity.

Adam Treloar and Taylor Adams have been strong additions too, although market value was paid for each.

Other recruits – Levi Greenwood, Travis Varcoe, Will Hoskin-Elliott and so on – have been ‘fine’, but the problem hasn’t been the individual players added, it’s been the complete absence of a plan to form a coherent collective.

The team, while unquestionably talented, still makes little sense – Collingwood has a commitment to high-pressure players who can’t kick akin to Arsenal’s commitment to low-pressure players who kick exquisitely.

How much of this is Buckley’s fault? Quite a bit, you’d imagine.

Has he shown enough over six years to retain his job? Almost certainly not.

But, at the same time, given the turmoil within the club, the failed succession plans, the cup-of-coffee directors of coaching, the comical injury list, and the absence of seemingly any experienced senior figure having the common sense to say ‘It’s probably a bad idea to sign Chris Mayne to a $2 million contract’, could any young coach really have succeeded in this time?

Maybe not, and that ultimately is why Buckley remains. Not out of a vote of confidence, but out of a concession of club-wide inadequacy.

The Crowd Says:

2017-09-15T04:07:15+00:00

Tommy

Guest

Macca....no doubt I am dreaming a little about the two Jakes at Collingwood in 2018. In saying that we know from history that any pick in the National Draft does not guarantee a champion player. Stories of failures in this regard are almost endless. For me personally, if Adelaide were prepared to take pick 6 and something else for Lever to come across I would do it. He's ready made and fits the bill for what I believe we would be looking for.

2017-09-15T03:06:15+00:00

Macca

Guest

Tommy - in the first 2 rounds Collingwood currently have pick 6. What do you envisage the Pies trading? And Collingwood haven't had a pick inside the top 30 for the last 2 years - would trading away their only pick in that range this year be a wise move?

2017-09-15T02:06:02+00:00

Geoff Schaefer

Guest

Yeh, ripples of laughter...

2017-09-15T01:58:26+00:00

Tommy

Guest

Chris...agree with your comments....fast start is needed not only to give us every opportunity to make finals but to settle things down with our supporters and crowd attendances. As far as recruiting goes I think they need to cast the net far and wide. Would definitely consider Watts as he needs new surroundings. Can play football but has been inconsistent. The two Jakes should be closely looked at too....Lever and Stringer. Imagine those two names in your best 22!

2017-09-15T01:41:45+00:00

Chris

Guest

There have been many comments written about our beleaguered Magpies. The issue that everyone wants to be stated clearly and authoritatively to Buckley from above is NO SLOW STARTS will be tolerated. This means 4 out of 4 or 4 out of 6 or 6 out of 10 in the beginning of the season. It doesn't matter who we face. They have got to go in like men possessed and treat those games as mini-finals. No more 2-8 starts. We cannot have that kind of pre-season preparation. I don't understand why they got rid of Scott Burns. He is a very dedicated hard-working individual. I am starting to think that if Buckley gets off to a rotter he will be replaced by Sanderson or Harvey. I don't think they will bring in a highly-fancied expensive coach. They will keep it in-house and get him to stand down pretty much like Bob Rose did when he got Leigh Matthews to take over. Now, who do we recruit? How about Watts and slot him into defence. As they old-stagers used to say Ratbags to the backline. That would free up Reid and Moore for the forward half. I would make a daring bid for Sam Weideman too! Blood is thicker than water and I feel he would make an immediate impact. He is in the seconds and not getting the opportunities he deserves. He is just what the doctor ordered. Two raids on the Dees and the problem is solved. Then a strong tackler and we're in with a damn good side that will cause ripples and tremours wherever they play. Go Pies!

2017-09-06T09:19:22+00:00

Autumn leaves

Guest

Pieman Eddie is elected until 2020 there will be no rival ticket, you are wasting your breath with this.

2017-09-06T07:56:56+00:00

Pieman

Guest

Im with you Tricky....nothing will change unless there is a rival ticket...and thats whats needed because everywhere Ed and big ego little Nathan wont stand aside for anything because suddenly the collingwood football club belongs to them...the board will need to go .... spineless useless representatives of i dont know who?

2017-09-06T06:48:28+00:00

captainpale

Roar Rookie