Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley breezes through firestorm

THE BUZZ: THE ART of negotiation is to be seen to find common ground, but still get your way in the end.

Buddy

THE ART of negotiation is to be seen to find common ground, but still get your way in the end.

Not for the first time yesterday Nathan Buckley emerged from a firestorm looking like the only calm, measured man in the room.

As he was when under full-frontal attack from an incandescent Mick Malthouse early last season, he used yesterday's 20-minute press conference to suck the oxygen out of an inferno.

And yet in his own nuanced way, find the words to make it emphatic to Harry O'Brien that the club was very much welcoming him back on its terms, not his.

Harry's issues can't compromise Pies

Consider the questions that need to be answered at Buckley's noon press conference following Harry O'Brien's heartfelt yet bizarre impromptu morning doorstop.

Was O'Brien mentally stable to train, let alone recommence his career given his statements about sexual abuse, suicide and murder?

Was his relationship with Buckley totally untenable given the events of the past week?

How would Buckley retain any level of respect within the playing group if he accepted O'Brien back despite his obscenity-laced tirade?

Yet Buckley navigated a tricky path that had him and the club throwing their arms around Harry at the same time as the coach firmly reinforced that the player served at the honour of the club.

Not for the first time Buckley has been under-estimated.

A club that looked on its knees on Friday afternoon has emerged as a more powerful force.

Its premiership credentials are intact given its 9-5 win-loss tally, its coach has reaffirmed his power base, and its playing list is boosted by the returning Dayne Beams and the emergence of a swing-man in Ben Reid.

It was undoubtedly a Buckley masterclass.

"I treat and we treat every player or every person in the club as an individual but at the same time the expectations by doing that and providing that support for the individual is that the individual buys into the larger culture of the organisation,'' Buckley offered early on.

"And when you do provide that support, the expectation is that person is contributing the very best that they have to what the club is here to achieve and that is to play, this is a sport, we are here to play football.''

Later Buckley said O'Brien had conceded he had enjoyed returning to training.

"I said that's because you are good at footy, and that's what you are here to do. Be good at footy.''

It was impossible not to read between the lines.

The message from Collingwood is clear.

Harry, we will back you to the hilt and provide every available support for your myriad issues.

But those issues do not excuse histrionics and screaming matches, and the repeated hijacking of the club agenda.

No one at Collingwood is unsympathetic to his family's history of sexual abuse, or his step-father's suicide.

But to be blunt, there is a groundswell of feeling that those issues are accentuated by O'Brien when he has transgressed in other ways.

He will potentially play against Gold Coast in a fortnight, and is clearly in Collingwood's best 22.

That does not guarantee he will be at the club next year, because as a thousand footballers before him have learnt, the coach is always right.

The club is always bigger than the individual - especially at one seen to be so close to a premiership.

WHY MARK EVANS SHOULD CHALLENGE SHAUN McKERNAN'S TWO-MATCH SUSPENSION

AUSTRALIA'S favourite movie lawyer Dennis Denuto knew what was right and wrong.

The profanity-spewing solicitor from The Castle didn't have a clue how to argue it, or tick all the relevant boxes, yet he knew it was right because of "the vibe".

The AFL's match review panel has no concept of the feel or vibe for what should and should not be accepted in football.

They are officious box-tickers.

And as a result, they continue to throw up appalling results like the Shaun McKernan two-week suspension for a brutal, disgusting elbow to the head of West Coast's Brad Sheppard.

What seems obvious is that they were handed the incident, went to the AFL's Tribunal guidelines, then painted themselves into a corner by ticking boxes at will.

High impact, high force, and reckless intent.

That meant McKernan was handed 325 points, down to two weeks suspension under a guilty plea.

Yet any bush lawyer in the land - ie. every football watcher in Australia - would understand that a two-week ban is just plain ridiculous.

It's a bit like those Choose Your Own Adventure books.

If you didn't get the preferred outcome, you went back and had another crack at it.

What the MRP should be doing is saying that because a two-week penalty is a joke, the intent needed to be intentional.

In other words, consider what penalty was acceptable, and then work backwards from there.

Immediately an intentional grading takes the penalty to 425 points, down to three weeks with a guilty plea.

Even that is the type of penalty McKernan would accept in a heartbeat, but it's in the ballpark.

Would anyone quibble that the elbow to the head was in fact reckless under the strictest tribunal deadlines rather than intentional?

Not anyone with any idea of football.

Yet the MRP continues ticking those boxes and accepting the outcome, rather than ticking the boxes, realising the penalty doesn't fit the strict formula, and having another go at it to at least get acceptable solutions.

If he was fair dinkum Mark Evans would appeal the verdict like Ian Collins did before him.

The problem with that solution is that it would trigger calls for him to appeal basically every tribunal case every week.

So be it this decision is so out of whack that you certainly wouldn't see the likes of Chris Scott - vocal about the penalty on Monday night - complaining about AFL interference.

The more realistic solution is that Evans gives the match review panel a trigger mechanism where they can directly refer a case to the tribunal if they do not believe the tick-the-box outcome gives a fair result.

Would they have the smarts to do that? Not sure.

There will always be inconsistencies with the judiciary, whether it is a formula-based solution or a gut-feel-from-a-tribunal system.

But we need to iron out the outright clangers.

That isn't happening right now.

Over to you, Mr Evans.

Buddy

WORDS ONLY MEAN SO MUCH

Manager Liam Pickering's firm statement that he believed Lance Franklin would re-sign at Hawthorn hasn't filled the club with a lot of confidence.

He said there was only one offer in front of Franklin.

Some close to the action interpreted that as a demand for Greater Western Sydney to actually offer him the official contract.

Others wonder if Franklin might be getting cold feet about joining a side which could be the first since Fitzroy in 1964 to go through the season without a win.

Either way, no one at the club is dancing victory jigs about the weekend statement from Pickering. They are still hopeful he will sign.

But hope is an emotion a million miles from expectant.