Coach Nathan Buckley’s COVID indiscretion has sucked the spirit out of Collingwood’s playing group, says Grant Thomas
Collingwood has lost form and faces an uphill battle to play finals. Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas says Nathan Buckley’s COVID protocol breach has undoubtedly contributed to the Magpies’ on-field inconsistency.
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Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas believes Nathan Buckley’s protocol breach has sucked the “spirit” out of underperforming Collingwood.
Buckley and assistant coach Brenton Sanderson were fined for breaking the AFL’s COVID isolation rules after playing a game of tennis with former professional Alicia Molik and her coach in Perth.
The Buckley transgression was one of several off-field incidents in recent months that had given the players an emotional out, Thomas said.
He said the Magpies could either play the victim or become a tyrant in the run home to finals.
The injury-hit Pies are 2-2 win-loss since the tennis calamity and cling tenuously to a position in the top eight.
“It seems to me their spirit got sucked out of them pretty much when Bucks had his tennis indiscretion,’’ Thomas told News Corp.
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“I’m absolutely big on when you’re standing in front of a group of players demanding supreme commitment and performance and you’ve had that sort of indiscretion yourself, as silly as it was, players (who are) on the edge, or players (who are) not in the right frame of mind, or players who have got the sh**** with the hub, or players who are away from their family and don’t want to be there, that gives them a very easy out, that gives them an escape hatch.
“And when you need 100 per cent effort from 100 per cent of the team, 100 per cent of the time, that sort of thing gets compromised.’’
Thomas said when he made errors at St Kilda, he had to work hard to get the players back.
“They (the players) say, ‘hang on, mate, you’re a hypocrite, you’re saying one thing and doing another’.’’
He stressed the Buckley indiscretion was part of a litany of events that included the Steele Sidebottom bender and suspension, the ongoing Heritier Lumumba racism fight and injuries on the field.
“If you want to specifically talk about Bucks, he’s done an enormous job in changing his coaching style from one that was quite disconnected in a lot of ways from his players – he was very judgmental of the players because he was such a perfectionist himself, and he had an arm’s length relationship from the players, he placed demands and that’s how it was,” Thomas said.
“He realised that wasn’t going to work and he needed to connect with his players, and he’s done that really well.
“But I don’t know if they are now taking advantage of that, or what. You have to be inside to know these things.
“But to me, Collingwood while they have been decimated with injuries, he’s got too many players picking and choosing and being selective in their efforts and performances.
“A lot of that is because they might not be able to get themselves in the right frame of mind because of these off-field incidents, and the coach standing up in front of them and he’s had an indiscretion himself, it just doesn’t give you the best chance.”
Thomas recalled a season at the Saints when injury to several of his better-performed players hit the team ahead of a challenging run to the finals.
“There’s two ways to go, you can either feel sorry for yourself and be a victim or you become a tyrant,” he said.
“We decided to become tyrants. We knew if we didn’t change our attitude towards the games we ran the risk of not playing finals.
“They (the Pies) have to have a very open talk among the player group, let players express themselves about things that have been happening.
“It’s not a good thing to be picking the paper up every second day and reading about the racism accusations. It’s inescapable.
“They need to have a roundtable, if you like, and have a meeting of reflection – OK, let’s deal with all the dirty linen and make a commitment towards what is important for us for the rest of the year.”
Thomas said Buckley would probably believe his observations were an over-reaction.
“And in isolation, it is,’’ Thomas said.
“But, what I know, if you’re the leader and you’re standing in front and demanding supreme effort, performance and commitment and just had an indiscretion, it makes it very difficult.
“I don’t know if he’s talked about it with the players, and I’m not saying in isolation that’s the issue, but on top of the injuries, the off-field indiscretions, on top of the racist allegation, on top Collingwood being Collingwood, it becomes a cauldron of potential negativity and pressure which is very difficult for players, especially in a hub, to deal with.
“It has to be dealt with. Flush the toilet, as they say.
“If you don’t flush the toilet, things stay pretty smelly.”
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