By Jake Niall
Nathan Buckley has indicated that his family situation would make it difficult for him to move out of Victoria over the next few years – a position that appears to rule him out of coaching positions outside the state in that period.
Buckley, whose sons Jett (15) and Ayce (13) are in the middle of their secondary schooling in Melbourne, made clear that he would remain in the same place as his sons during their schooling.
“I can’t see me not being where the boys are,” Buckley told The Age at Fox Footy’s season launch.
Nathan Buckley with his sons Ayce (left) and Jett ahead of his last match as the coach of Collingwood. Credit: Collingwood Football Club
The former Collingwood coach and champion did not consider entering the coaching market this year after his exit from the Magpies in 2021, in part because of a wish to spend time with his sons. Buckley and his wife separated during 2020.
Buckley, who is commentating for Fox Footy and SEN, said he did not know if he would look to coach in the AFL again. He is viewed as likely to be given another opportunity if he chooses to re-enter coaching, after nearly 10 years coaching the Magpies.
“No, and I’m really comfortable with that. I don’t even know how I’m going to feel when I sit and broadcast the game. I mean I really sat out of it a lot in the second half of last year, I just didn’t pay a lot of attention or focus on the AFL full stop. I really sort of removed myself.”
Buckley said he was “attacking this” – the media role – and “not projecting too far forward” in his career.
“For 30 years, I’ve always thought ‘that’s where I want to get, that’s what I’m going to do’. I’m really comfortable to go about it in a different way and it’s uncomfortable in many ways because it’s always been easy to have a singular focus and a really, you know, myopic view of what you want to be and how you want to go about it.
“I’m happy to be in that space of what if.”
Buckley does think about the near-miss of the 2018 grand final, but it is not Dom Sheed’s boundary line goal with under two minutes left to snatch the lead that haunts him.
Rather, Buckley outlined two episodes in that grand final: a failure of communication that left the Magpies with only five defenders for five minutes before half-time, and valiant defender Tom Langdon not rushing a behind in the first quarter, when the Pies led five goals to nil.
Asked about whether he often thought about Sheed’s goal – which gave West Coast the lead –Buckley said: “No. You see I always think things get distilled down to moments and sometimes they’re the right moments and sometimes they’re not the right moments.
“We had five defenders and seven forwards for the last five minutes of second quarter and West Coast kicked two goals in that time. Despite the box’s attempts, the runner’s attempts, to try and straighten that out. And that was because a rotation occurred and the communication wasn’t passed on to the player that went on the field.
“I think about that a bit.
“And I also think about ‘[Langers’ [Tom Langdon] not rushing the ball through when we’re five goals to zip, ’cause they got two goals in 15 seconds.
“But the last five minutes of the second quarter, we’re six goals to two. You go in six goals to two up ... that’s fairly significant, but six to four you start to think that well, maybe you give them a sniff.
“There’s plenty of things.”
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.