Making Collingwood fun again has inspired Magpies’ rise up ladder

COLLINGWOOD’S motto this season has been ‘MCFA’, Make Collingwood Fun Again. Garry Hocking and Nathan Buckley’s jokes and greater freedom has seen the Magpies rise up the ladder.

Garry Hocking goes for a tumble.

IT is inconceivable anything Garry Hocking does in football could be funnier than the viral video of his ill-fated slip on a trailer as he clung grimly to a hotdog.

As a TV journalist filmed a piece-to-camera in the foreground Hocking hit the deck like a sack of spuds.

Yet each Thursday he gets up at Collingwood’s opposition meeting determined to bring his own brand of humour, with his target often this season’s AFL Coach of the Year, Nathan Buckley.

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As defender Tom Langdon said this week, every Collingwood meeting starts with a joke and every day it is a pleasure to set foot inside the Holden Centre.

Scott Pendlebury’s dad jokes are apparently appalling, while Buckley reminds Adam Treloar

how he used to have fun when he coached him at under-16 Vic Country level.

News flash: winning is fun.

Nathan Buckley has a laugh with Jarryd Blair. Picture: Michael Klein

But as so many Collingwood players and coaches told the Herald Sun this week, it is no accident this group is a tight-knit bunch having a ball as they roar into the Grand Final.

“Since the review last year it’s just been an incredible place to work and a place to be each day,” Langdon said.

“There has been a real emphasis on fun and enjoyment and everyone comes into the club enjoying their football and that has to contribute to on-field success as well.

“It’s interesting, fun is an outcome, but there has been a real emphasis on culture and being close-knit, catching up more and having sessions where we can learn about different guys.

“Garry would say he is the funniest. Him and Bucks go at each other, taking the piss out of each other. In terms of Pendles, he is the worst.”

Buckley’s story this year is one of delegation, of trust in his assistants, of not sweating the small stuff when he probably can’t influence it anyway.

Tom Langdon and James Aish share a laugh. Picture: Michael Klein

Adams was one of a number of players who filled out a survey that went into Peter Murphy’s now-famous review, saying players now have “autonomy” with flexible schedules that they are empowered to fulfil.

“Since I have been here Bucks has changed enormously in that aspect. Over the last 12 months it has gone to a new high. There has been a lot more interaction between assistant coaches and players,” Adams said.

“Especially over the pre-season, we barely saw Bucks and it was kind of refreshing.

“When he came back after Christmas he started taking the reins again and he had more bang in what he was saying, you listened more.

“Bucks has loosened up and offered the reins to everyone else to help out.”

Treloar saw Buckley before the stakes were so high and says he has found a way to return to those carefree days.

Nathan Buckley gets a hug from Adam Treloar. Picture: Michael Klein

“It is funny, the way he now reminds me of when he was when he coached me as a 16-year-old at Vic Country,’’ he said.

“And when he had control of us he was very professional but I am not saying he didn’t have fun the last couple of years, but it’s hard to have fun when we are not winning

“It wasn’t just him, it was all of us. We would get in knowing we should have won and there was so much pressure on us.

“Day one coming in this year it was this is how we are going to play, we will focus on everyone’s strengths and not worry too much about the negatives.

“We lost to Hawthorn and the Giants and the shit could have hit the fan, we could have thrown in the towel but we kept focusing on what we did well.

“He was the one drilling it down but he was the one having fun at the same time.

“It reminds us of the Under 16s, we were professional but we were having so much fun.

“Now the fun takes over, if we don’t win we look at it as quickly as possible then move on. It’s a massive credit to him, it shows the love we have for him.”