‘Wheels are falling off’: Player unrest at Pies, Bucks ‘not coach he was’

Nathan Buckley’s future at Collingwood has become a major talking point — and the latest news isn’t good for the under-fire coach.

Nathan Buckley is in the gun. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Each week a different AFL coach takes his turn in the hot seat.

After round one Ben Rutten was criticised from coaching from the boundary after Essendon coughed up a 40-point lead to Hawthorn.

A week later it was David Teague’s turn to face the music after Carlton fell to 0-2 — its ninth consecutive season without a win in the first two rounds.

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After round three Leon Cameron was “in trouble”, according to Fox Footy pundit David King, after failing to win for the third week in a row and now the GWS coach has handed the baton to Nathan Buckley.

A horror off-season which saw Collingwood part ways with star midfielder Adam Treloar in acrimonious circumstances and then farewell president Eddie McGuire on the back of an investigation into racism at the club meant the arrows were going to be pointed at the Pies as soon as they lost a game they were expected to win.

That came against the Giants on Saturday at the MCG, where a 30-point defeat has turned the spotlight on Buckley, who is out of contract at the end of the season.

Fox Footy reporter Tom Morris spent all of Monday on the phone to key figures “in and around” Collingwood and declared “it’s patently clear the wheels are falling off”.

Bombshell report of player unrest at Magpies

Nathan Buckley is taking his turn in the hot seat. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

In reporting he shared on the program On The Couch and then in a follow-up article posted on foxsports.com.au, Morris made some eye-catching claims about the view of Buckley inside the club.

He reported there is unrest “among some key players” towards the coach and “insiders say Buckley is not the coach he was in 2018 or 2019”.

Some players have “grown weary” on the 48-year-old’s “emphasis on emotional connection” and leaders like Brodie Grundy and Jordan Roughead have been “vocal in their frustrations internally”.

Other senior players and staff were “perplexed by the ‘we don’t want you’ mantra” directed at Treloar during his departure to the Western Bulldogs.

But Morris wasn’t the only one signalling the Pies doom on Monday night.

What other footy figures are saying

In another troubling review for Buckley’s impact on the playing group, Gerard Healy indicated the Pies were lacking spirit.

“We can go back to tactics and structures … but to me what was missing most, it was just spirit,” Healy told On The Couch.

“They played with no intensity, they played with none of that verve that has been part and parcel of this group for the last three years.”

Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson declared Collingwood was now “at a crossroad”.

“I think the realisation has come for Collingwood and their supporters that they’re not good enough,” he told AFL 360.

“They’re really in a hot bed right now … and they’re thinking it’s uncomfortable. It’s like the middle of summer, you can’t get comfortable and that’s what Collingwood is right now, they’re tossing and turning and thinking: ‘What are we doing this week?’”

Brodie Grundy looks dejected after losing the round four match against the Giants. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

“There was a sameness to them,” Nick Riewoldt told On The Couch. “It was the same sort of stuff we’ve seen from the same personnel and the same style.

“It’s a group that’s in need of real invigoration. You can’t keep doing what you’re doing, the way you’re doing it, with what you’ve got and the people you’ve got out there.

“It’s a tipping point now for Nathan Buckley in terms of either the way he’s trying to capture the imagination of the playing group and the people he’s trotting out every weekend.

“The imagination and selling hope to the group is now the most important weapon in Nathan Buckley’s arsenal.”

Can Magpies afford to move Buckley?

Herald Sun footy writer Jon Ralph questioned whether a change of coach would help the club, saying Buckley.

“On all available evidence, it’s hard to see that sacking Buckley at the peak of his powers and installing a first-time coach would improve the club’s premiership hopes,” he wrote.

“Those close to Ross Lyon say he has made the decision not to coach an AFL club again …

Mark Williams should be a senior coaching contender but clubs seem scared of the full provocative, antagonistic, brilliant package despite his exceptional coaching fundamentals.

So, is Buckley a better choice than the next-best assistant coach such as Scott Burns or Adem Yze or Adam Kingsley?”

Originally published as ‘Wheels are falling off’: Player unrest at Pies, Bucks ‘not coach he was’