A frustrated Nathan Buckley has bristled at suggestions Collingwood’s AFL premiership campaign has gone off the rails ahead of their blockbuster clash with Richmond.
Friday night’s game at the MCG looms as perhaps the biggest of the home and away season, with the contrasting form lines of the fourth-placed Magpies and fifth-placed Tigers heightening anticipation.
While Richmond have timed their run perfectly to emerge as a serious contender, the Pies have battled since their mid-season bye.
After claiming a gutsy one-point win over West Coast in Perth, Buckley’s men gave up eight first-quarter goals to one in a hefty loss to GWS last week.
Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy said the Pies were “in a major hole” after losing three out of their last five games, while former Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos described their first quarter against the Giants as “staggering”.
Buckley had some of the commentary replayed to him on Tuesday during a tense interview on SEN radio which centred largely on concerns around his team’s form.
“I can sit here all day and analyse a loss with you but it’s just one loss,” he said.
“We’re two games off top. We’ve got five games left in the season to round off where we qualify for the end of the year.
“We can only ever look at what we have, what we are and what we can be … that’s simply what the day-by-day grind and culture of a football club is.
“Seeing things for what they are, not being myopic or tunnel-visioned in the way that you view it, not being drawn away by that view by opinions that are less informed.
“The things that work at a under-18s club without real scrutiny during the week … are the same things that need to take place in an AFL environment because we’re still human.”
Friday night’s result looms as potentially season-defining given the Pies could climb as high as second on the ladder or slip as low as seventh.
Forgotten utility Tyson Goldsack is a chance to return as Buckley ponders the best way to quell the influence of star forwards Tom Lynch and Jack Riewoldt.
Buckley was also asked about Jaidyn Stephenson’s decision to post a holiday happy snap after retired great Wayne Carey suggested it was not a good look for the suspended forward at a time when his team was struggling.
“How dare he be human,” a deadpan Buckley responded.
“I just can’t believe Stevo would go and live his life with the rubber stamping of the football club and the understanding of what his program has been.
“The young fella has been exemplary in the way that he has handled himself. I don’t know how many times I have to say that.
“It doesn’t get any cut-through because it’s not sexy enough, it’s not controversial enough.”