Remove this Banner Ad

Toast Nathan Buckley.

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

I wonder if that w****r Blessed will post in this thread and apologise for all the idiotic comments made less than two months ago. Seriously doubt it.

Buckley is showing what he can do with a team ravaged with injuries by coaching the team to wins with superior match ups and negating the strengths of the opposition.

Even if this year doesn't work out the way we want it to, I very excited about what the next few years hold with Bucks at the helm.
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

I've been really impressed with his positional changes. Some forced but mostly by design he has really invigorated the side. I got the feeling that we had become somewhat stale and predictable last season (probably mostly perception given how dominant we were) but we just seem refreshed.
 
Krueger said:
In the end we lost a GF due to the succession plan. However whats done is done. Hope we can remedy that this year :thumbsu:
Click to expand...

I get this. we didn't manage any players last year they all played through the season fully last year when we didn't need wins on the board. It did feel like Mick was chasing the big record and grand exit. What's done is done I suppose.
 
September Action said:
I was one who questioned whether he might be a flop. Particularly given the well documented leadership issues he had as captain / FIGJAM persona etc.

The way he has conducted himself, the poise, the willingness to learn. It's been uber impressive. The handling of the MM situation both last year and especially a few weeks back didn't just ooze class, it was pure genius. In one press conference, Bucks' diffused the situation and made it disappear. (Obviously, winning despite the injury toll has also helped with this.)
Click to expand...

I agree. I wondered myself how he'd go, I believe coaching is as much about people management as it is knowing strategy and making the right moves and had my doubts about whether he would really be able to get the players on board with him. Looks like he has, everything I've seen makes it look like he has a fantastic rapport with players, and is enjoying the job, which is great.

Hopefully we keep chugging along, cause I still believe that the media have all their 'Did Collingwood screw up letting Mick go?' stories written and waiting in the top drawer for us to faulter at some stage. Unfortunately it's just going to be something Bucks will have to contend with during his first year as coach, but nothing will silence the doubters more than having the cup in his hand at the end of the year.
 
rose jam said:
I get this. we didn't manage any players last year they all played through the season fully last year when we didn't need wins on the board. It did feel like Mick was chasing the big record and grand exit. What's done is done I suppose.
Click to expand...

There was a myriad of reasons it fell to bits. The bit that pisses me of is that it is in the history books as another GF loss which didnt have to happen.

Good to see Bucks showing a bit of emotion in the box and celebrating the win with the players.
 
Personally, I thought and still think that MM is the best thing to have happened to this footy club, so I was never a fan of the succession plan and have been a Bucks doubter. It's obviously still too early to call either way, but things are looking rosy at the moment. Inheriting the club in the position that he did, means that anything short of a premiership during the next two years is a failure for Bucks, as I think that we comfortably have the best list going around.

On a related note, does anyone else think that rather than the MM comments being a brilliant tactic, they were actually honesty from Buckley. It seems almost certain that Malthouse is the biggest influence in turning Bucks into a genuine leader. I think he also turned Buckley from a kick chasing solo artist into the most complete footballer that any of us have seen in the black and white. I would be very surprised if Bucks isn't very thankful for the lessons that he learnt from MM. I'd also be very surprised if he didn't listen closely to his comments and criticism.
 
Quicky said:
I've been really impressed with his positional changes. Some forced but mostly by design he has really invigorated the side. I got the feeling that we had become somewhat stale and predictable last season (probably mostly perception given how dominant we were) but we just seem refreshed.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The Daisy v Dangerfield matchup was sensational. I was really happy he went that way. I think he does a lot more trying to get Heater into the game when the opposition tries to take him out of the game too. His faith in Ben Sinclair has been proven absolutely correct, even though a lot of us didn't see it at all. Even if Sinclair tapers off as most guys in their first real year do, I think most of us would admit to really looking forward to seeing how good he can be over the next couple of years. In rounds 1-5 we would all be calling for his delisting.

It seems Bucks is more likely to accept you need to shutdown the oppositions best players as well as allowing your own players to flourish. I think he has been able to convince the playing group of this after going "head to head" in the midfield with Carlton and being smashed.

A lot of the positives for Bucks have been injury realted, and in a sick kind of way the injuries have really helped make the side "his".

I was never a big Malthouse fan towards the end, I didn't like the me-first attitude or his reluctance to be supportive of Bucks. But I know he is a very smart man, and there is a part of me, even back in round 3, that thinks he might have been calling out to his old players when he made the Swan and Tarrant GF comments.
Those comments to me said: "I'm not with you anymore boys, I can't help. You have a new coach and he is the one who will be supporting you from now on."

Maybe I am reading too much into it, and I know Mick is proud, but a man like him couldn't have made it coaching for nearly 25 years without a strong sense of team. Perhaps his view was Bucks needed to be seen as a rival of his, as an alternative not a continuation, for our own players to truly buy into his leadership and ideas.

Bucks is a long way from where he wants to be as a coach (he would know this better than anyone) but his start has been excellent and he has some very good facilities, staff and players to get the absolute best of himself. There will still be bumps this year where people question him and whether Malthouse would've been better, but I think we can all now accept that the boys are playing for him and are starting to buy into the gameplan and theslightly different philosophies. His support of the playing group and individuals has been resolute despite our shaky start. It would've been easy to pot Swanny when he was down (as I did). But Bucks supported him publicly and I have no doubt a few of the senior boys who may have been doubting him, loved this.
 
On 'Footy Classified, Grant Thomas described last week's game as one of the best he'd seen in a decade, but reserved his highest praise for Buck's coaching which he said was 'sensational'. He said the teams getting found out are those like Hawthorn trying to stick to a rigid game plan. Everyone was effusive in their praise for Bucks and for Collingwood's record of winning interstate.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Shpeshal Ed said:
Yeah Grant said he thinks we're more formidable under Bucks.

Which I think may have been a jab at Mick. Didn't he hate Malthouse?
Click to expand...

With a passion
 
Optimax said:
With a passion
Click to expand...

Yeah thought so.

As soon as I heard that line, it was the first thing I thought. Wife got a bit excited hearing that because she loves Bucks to death and I told her, yeah that's all good, but Grant hates Mick hard so I'm sure he said that more to have a crack at Mick than anything else.

I actually think it's partly true myself, but still, Grant's intentions were clear to me.
 
sr36 said:
Personally, I thought and still think that MM is the best thing to have happened to this footy club, so I was never a fan of the succession plan and have been a Bucks doubter. It's obviously still too early to call either way, but things are looking rosy at the moment. Inheriting the club in the position that he did, means that anything short of a premiership during the next two years is a failure for Bucks, as I think that we comfortably have the best list going around.

On a related note, does anyone else think that rather than the MM comments being a brilliant tactic, they were actually honesty from Buckley. It seems almost certain that Malthouse is the biggest influence in turning Bucks into a genuine leader. I think he also turned Buckley from a kick chasing solo artist into the most complete footballer that any of us have seen in the black and white. I would be very surprised if Bucks isn't very thankful for the lessons that he learnt from MM. I'd also be very surprised if he didn't listen closely to his comments and criticism.
Click to expand...

That list you refer to is nowhere the same list he now has to work with considering the high number of quality injuries to the team, Bucks has been like a breath of fresh air through the club.
 
FAIRANDBALANCED said:
His faith in Ben Sinclair has been proven absolutely correct, even though a lot of us didn't see it at all. Even if Sinclair tapers off as most guys in their first real year do, I think most of us would admit to really looking forward to seeing how good he can be over the next couple of years. In rounds 1-5 we would all be calling for his delisting. .
Click to expand...

A couple of points.....

1. he's not a first year player, he's had just one less preseason than Sidebottom and Beams. So theres no reason for his form to taper off assuming he stays injury free

2. Not everybody was writing him off;)
 
Timmy from Thomastown said:
A couple of points.....

1. he's not a first year player, he's had just one less preseason than Sidebottom and Beams. So theres no reason for his form to taper off assuming he stays injury free

2. Not everybody was writing him off;)
Click to expand...

I think I said first "real" year... you would disagree with this? I think this is the first time he has strung together senior games.
 
FAIRANDBALANCED said:
I think I said first "real" year... you would disagree with this? I think this is the first time he has strung together senior games.
Click to expand...

True but as I said with three preseasons, theres no reason why he should slip. His fitness levels will be as good as anybodys at the club. Its only a minor point but just saying players who usually fall away late in the year are first or second year players. Sinclair as a third year player shouldnt. Fasolo is more likely to fall away, his form is already looking erratic.
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Timmy from Thomastown said:
True but as I said with three preseasons, theres no reason why he should slip. His fitness levels will be as good as anybodys at the club. Its only a minor point but just saying players who usually fall away late in the year are first or second year players. Sinclair as a third year player shouldnt. Fasolo is more likely to fall away, his form is already looking erratic.
Click to expand...

There are no signs that Sinclair will fall away, but to me it would be a massive effort mentally and physically for him to keep up his attack on the footy for 22 games plus (hopefully!!) finals. He is bound to have a down period I reckon. Hope I'm wrong and he continues the upward graph. It is amazing what faith and opportunity can do for some players.
Absolutely loved his attack on the footy when he and Dangerfield ran at it, Sinclair caused the ball to spill to Wellingham, who kicked it to Daisy, who fed off to Blair who put it in front of Beams who gathered brilliantly at pace and snapped to put us 7 points in front!!
 
FAIRANDBALANCED said:
There are no signs that Sinclair will fall away, but to me it would be a massive effort mentally and physically for him to keep up his attack on the footy for 22 games plus (hopefully!!) finals. He is bound to have a down period I reckon. Hope I'm wrong and he continues the upward graph. It is amazing what faith and opportunity can do for some players.
Absolutely loved his attack on the footy when he and Dangerfield ran at it, Sinclair caused the ball to spill to Wellingham, who kicked it to Daisy, who fed off to Blair who put it in front of Beams who gathered brilliantly at pace and snapped to put us 7 points in front!!
Click to expand...

Like any first year player he may well fall away for a season next year.
In fact the odds are he will.
The odds are also in favor of him rebounding the year after better than ever.
 
On Bucks, I reckon he's a good coach, surrounded by good people. In the end the hope is that he can take the young and older players with him for the next decade and have sustained success.

Mick's time was not up, but it was getting there, so sometimes you need to make a change to ensure the future remains bright. Sure there may be pain in the shorter to medium term, but maybe better things later.

On Sinclair, sure Buckley backed him in, but I'm convinced Mick rated him from early VFL days, even when many were even bigger doubters. He saw something in Sinclair that he liked, and did some of the important ground work in turning him into a senior player. Bucks just built on Mick's work - as he has at all times.

I'd love us to win the flag this year more than in a few years' time, because I'd like both of their hard work to be recognised together. We win this year, surely Mick is a huge reason. We win in 2-3 years time, then Mick is less acknowledged, which would be a shame.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Toast Nathan Buckley.

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top