Nathan Buckley says he was elevated to Collingwood captaincy too soon

COLLINGWOOD champion Nathan Buckley says he was given too much too soon in his early years at the Pies, to the detriment of both himself and the club.

Nathan Buckley is a champion of Collingwood.

NATHAN Buckley has conceded Collingwood focused too much on him in his early years, saying his selection in the Magpies’ Team of the Century in only his fourth season at the club “didn’t ring true”.

And the Magpie great also said in hindsight he was elevated to the captaincy too soon at the expense of his predecessor, Gavin Brown, in 1999.

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In an exclusive interview for a book to mark the club’s 125th anniversary, Champions of Collingwood, The 125 Greatest Magpies, the AFL Hall of Fame member and current coach believed some of the laurels thrust upon him at an early age only put more pressure on him and the team.

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“I thought the club was trying to put me on a pedestal, to my detriment and (to) its detriment really, early,” Buckley said in the book.

“The Team of the Century (selection) wasn’t a great thing. I was put in the side and Gavin Brown was (initially) left out. ‘Shawry’ (Tony Shaw) was on the pine (interchange bench). It just didn’t ring true.

Nathan Buckley in action in 1997.

Buckley upon assuming the captaincy.

“I felt really uncomfortable. I can understand the argument, but it doesn’t hurt to make a bloke earn his stripes.”

Buckley was selected on the half-back flank in Collingwood’s team of the 20th Century in 1997, despite the fact that he had played just over 70 games with the club when the side was chosen. He was already a bona fide black and white star, but had only won two of his eventual club record six Copeland Trophies as well as only one of his seven All-Australian selections.

In time, it would prove a canny selection as Buckley would become one of the greatest Collingwood players of all-time. But when the team was announced — 20 years ago this June — his inclusion at the expense of Brown caused more than a few ripples inside and outside Victoria Park.

Brown was not included in the original 21 players selected, but would be added to the interchange bench five years later, in 2002, in accordance with the AFL’s move to a four-man bench.

Buckley was named Collingwood captain in 1999, but believes now it came a season or two earlier than it should have.

Gavin Brown, Damian Monkhorst and Nathan Buckley.

“I think it was before my time,” he said of his elevation. “’Browny’ had been captain, and Damian Monkhorst and Gav Crosisca were still around and were strong influences.”

“It was like nearly everything they (Collingwood) pushed up in front of me, you had to cope with it. You (just) had to find a way.”

He admitted to being “a fairly brash young bloke” early in his career, driven to succeed and unconcerned if his approach ruffled a few feathers.

“(I) definitely rubbed some people up the wrong way, some of them inside (the club) and some of them outside,” he said. “I had a lot to learn and the club was definitely a big part in helping me along that journey.

“There was always pressure to perform and produce (at Collingwood). It takes a while to form strategies around that as a player. I enjoyed it, but ... sometimes that was a bit of a cross to bear when the side didn’t play well or you didn’t play as well as you would have liked to. (That attention) sort of puts you under pressure, but it also hardens you.”

Former teammate Damian Monkhorst said while Buckley was an outstanding young talent, he took some time to align with sections of the Collingwood playing group in his early years.

Buckley and Mick Malthouse have words during three-quarter-time of a clash against the Swans in 2000.

“I am sure he would say this as well as anyone, that he probably didn’t listen (much) to the environment he was in,” Monkhorst said. “That made it awkward for the group.

“He’s a fantastic person, but he was a young exuberant thing wanting to prove something.”

Buckley came to a realisation on an overseas holiday after Mick Malthouse’s first season as coach in 2000 that he needed to change his sometimes confronting leadership style, as well as spread the responsibilities.

“That was a big moment for me, after a couple of seasons as captain,” he said. “I went away and had a bit of a think about where my footy sat and where my leadership sat, and my influence within the group.”

“It was a big shift in my leadership (in 2001). I think that was an important part in allowing us to get the most out of the team going forward.”

Scott Burns, Buckley’s then teammate and his current assistant coach, admired how he altered his leadership qualities to become a better skipper.

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He said it was ridiculous some people marked Buckley harshly because he never played in a premiership side.

“He didn’t have the team success, but to me, he is a no-brainer as the No.1,” Burns said. “If I had to pick any player in the competition, it would be Bucks. He had every attribute you could have — speed, strength, skill.”

“If he had been at any of those other clubs who might have been a bit better than we were, he would still have won all their awards.”

Buckley won the Norm Smith Medal in the narrow loss to Brisbane in the 2002 Grand Final. But the following year’s Grand Final — again to the Lions — sits as painfully, as the Magpies went into the game with great expectation, having beaten them in the 2003 qualifying final. It would end in a thrashing with Lions winning a third successive flag.

“We thought when we had beaten Brisbane in the qualifying final that we might have seen them off,” he said. “They were on the ropes. There is no doubt we should have made the most of that (opportunity), but they were a quality side and were able to come together on the day. You earn your opportunities and your success, and that’s what they did.”

A shattered Buckley, seen here with former teammate Dale Thomas, after the 2007 preliminary final.

Buckley retired after the 2007 preliminary final loss to Geelong — his 260th game for Collingwood and 280th overall. He said of his retirement at the age of 35: “In the end, I maxed out, I was always running myself into the deck. I wasn’t one who could cruise around and do things at 80 per cent.”

He returned to Collingwood as part of the contentious succession plan involving Mick Malthouse at the end of 2009, was an assistant coach in the 2010 premiership success and took over as senior coach for the 2012 season.

The Magpies made a preliminary final in his first year as coach, lost in an elimination final in his second, but have missed playing off in September over the last three seasons.

Speaking for the book about the pressures and responsibilities of coaching, he said it was something he never underestimated or took for granted.

“You feel the responsibility and accountability to the role, and to the success or otherwise of the footy club when you go through a period of wanting to be better,” Buckley said.

“(But) you have to focus on the things you can do, look after your own backyard because there are plenty of things outside of it that you can’t control.”

Nathan Buckley, the coach, with assistant coach Scott Burns and skipper Scott Pendlebury (left). Picture: Wayne Ludbey

* Be one of the first 200 readers to buy Champions of Collingwood; The 125 Greatest Magpies for $69.99 and receive a Collingwood Football Club can cooler with your purchase. Order online at heraldsun.com.au/shop (direct link HERE) or call 1300 306 107. For mail order, post a cheque/money order to: Herald Sun Shop, PO Box 14730, Melbourne VIC 8001

** Champions of Collingwood ; The 125 Greatest Magpies will be released on Wednesday and details the stories of the club’s greatest 125 players, as chosen by Collingwood’s official Hall of Fame committee. Two of the club’s premiership skippers, Tony Shaw and Nick Maxwell, will be at a book signing at Dymocks Melbourne at 234 Collins Street, Melbourne, at midday on Wednesday.

Originally published as Nathan Buckley says he was elevated to Collingwood captaincy too soon