Why Collingwood should make Nathan Buckley re-apply for his job
COLLINGWOOD’S board would be negligent to reappoint Nathan Buckley without canvassing all available options, writes JON RALPH.
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DESPERATE times call for desperate measures.
Collingwood isn’t sure if it wants Nathan Buckley as its coach and he says he has a decision to make on coaching them, too.
At 5-9, for the board to simply back in Buckley on a promise success is near would be blind faith.
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Because for four years, Collingwood has been mired in mediocrity.
Collingwood’s board is full of heavy hitters who in their business lives would never rehire someone without assessing potential replacements.
From new Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate to KordaMentha co-founder Mark Korda to Alisa Camplin and Eddie McGuire, the rise to the top by these Magpies powerbrokers was no accident.
These are people who assemble all available evidence before making a decision.
With that in mind, Collingwood’s board should give Buckley the chance to reapply for his job while also considering outside contenders.
It is impossible for them to extend Buckley’s tenure without first asking if Alastair Clarkson and Paul Roos are available and speaking to the likes of John Barker and Stuart Dew.
Spend the first two weeks of another vacant finals campaign making those inquiries and sounding out those who might be interested.
Then allow Buckley to present to the board on his plan for the future.
Here is the stunning stat that would worry the Collingwood board as well as its football department.
Collingwood’s top 10 players from the 2016 best-and-fairest have missed a total of three games with injury this year. Yep, three.
Of the top six players in the count, they have played every game bar Adam Treloar’s single absence in Round 8.
Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom, Brodie Grundy, Jeremy Howe, Taylor Adams and Jack Crisp have played every game.
Josh Smith (seventh) has been dropped but hasn’t missed with injury, Levi Greenwood (eighth) missed two weeks with a hammy and Jarryd Blair has been in and out on form.
Of the players outside the top 10, Jamie Elliott has played nine games, Darcy Moore 14, Alex Fasolo 13.
Daniel Wells has missed seven and Travis Varcoe eight but consider Melbourne’s eight wins despite playing without Max Gawn, Jesse Hogan and Nathan Jones, among others.
In August 2015, after another failed season, Buckley said: “We have got plans and designs about what our team is going to look like in 2017-18 when we think this particular evolution of our list is going to reach its full maturity.’’
The definition of insanity often attributed to Einstein is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
What exactly will Buckley change with his game style and list management to keep a sinking ship afloat?
Damien Hardwick didn’t just expect Richmond to rebound, he changed his entire game plan, recruited smartly, admitted his coaching flaws and addressed them.
Rolling Buckley over for one more season would just create 12 more months of discussion and controversy.
Assessing all options with Buckley’s full knowledge and then extending his contract — if that is the board’s decision — would actually give him a mandate for the future.
FIT TO SERVE
Games lost to injury this year by Collingwood’s 2016 best and fairest Top 10
1. Scott Pendlebury 0
2. Adam Treloar 1
3. Steele Sidebottom 0
4. Brodie Grundy 0
5. Jeremy Howe 0
6. Taylor Adams 0
7. Josh Smith 0 (dropped for three games)
8. Levi Greenwood 2
9. Jack Crisp 0
10 Jarryd Blair 0 (played just six AFL games on form)
Champion Data says Collingwood has lost 81 games to injury, the ninth-most in the competition.
Nine players have played every game — Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Howe, Grundy, Adams, Crisp, Moore, Maynard, Hoskin-Elliott.
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