Nathan Buckley says he didn’t have ‘backing’ of Collingwood players in 2012

Nathan Buckley has opened up about his toughest time as a coach, revealing he didn’t have the backing of Collingwood’s players after taking the job from Mick Malthouse. Plus why everything changed in 2017.

Nathan Buckley, coach of the Magpies speaks to Scott Pendlebury in 2012.

Nathan Buckley has conceded he didn’t have the support of the Collingwood playing group in his early years as coach under the club’s contentious succession plan.

But he says his ability to finally realise he didn’t care about outside perceptions in 2017 paved the way for the most enjoyable years of his coaching career.

Buckley’s handover took place in 2012 after the Pies lost the 2011 Grand Final and with several senior players keen for Mick Malthouse to continue on as senior coach.

In an Essendon podcast he said those early years at the club as he attempted to win over the players were the most difficult of his nearly 30 seasons in AFL football.

“We all have our moments where we think, ‘I can’t see myself getting to the other side of this’,” he said.

“2017 was tough but when I reflect on 2012 and 2013 when I first started senior coaching and the landscape and the backdrop of trying to assert yourself and trying to impact a club as positively as you could, they were tough years. Not to have the imprimatur for change, or in some ways not to have the backing of the playing group for a lot of time, that was a really tough place to be. They were as challenging (years) as any when I reflect on my coaching journey.”

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Nathan Buckley took over from Mick Malthouse as Collingwood coach in 2012.

Collingwood eventually moved on a cross-section of players including some of the so-called “rat pack” but Buckley still took time to win over the playing group.

In a discussion with Essendon’s Jobe Watson and James Hird, he agreed that players and coaches often tried to hide their true self when they were subjected to criticism or endured crises like the Essendon supplements saga.

He said it was only when he realised he didn’t care about those critics that he started to reflect his true personality in the public and with players.

“You reach a point where you don’t really care about what other people think,” he said.

“If you can get to that position you can really be yourself. And it’s pretty hard in the public forum. I got to that point late in 2017 where I realised if I was going to go about it, I was going to go about it transparently and authentically and do it my way or be truer to myself and I was very fortunate to be able to get through and be given another contract.

Nathan Buckley talks to Scott Pendlebury in his first year in charge.

“I can say I have enjoyed my coaching and involvement in footy more than I ever have because I am closer to my truer self and the fact that we as a club have won more games definitely makes it easier and you are viewed more favourably as a result.

“But take the wins and losses out of it, my involvement in footy is much more enjoyable because there is less of a difference between who I am and who I present as. Which I am very thankful for.”

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Originally published as Nathan Buckley says he didn’t have ‘backing’ of Collingwood players in 2012