The Magpies were belted by the Dockers at Etihad Stadium on Friday night despite leading at quarter-time on the back on an almost complete dominance of clearances (12-3) and fanatical defensive pressure.
Buckley said the Dockers' ability to turn the game on its head, to the extent they piled on 12 consecutive goals in little more than two quarters, was a concern.
"When there's such contrasts in the way that you perform from quarter to quarter it puts heat on everyone," Buckley said.
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"We will more than likely sit at the bottom of the ladder with our percentage at the end of round one, but we will be four points away from the top team.
"So it's a loss, it's a poor loss, but you don't wrap the season up.
"We've clearly got some players who performed really well … but we just didn't have enough support, there weren't enough troops, there wasn't enough weight of numbers for long enough.
"So the heat goes on if you don't perform – players and coaches and administrators alike."
Buckley said he had told his players after the game to take a positive out of troubling one of 2014's flag fancies for a quarter, but they had to learn to sustain that effort for longer.
"The churning in the guts that we're all feeling at the moment is not something you just ignore," Buckley said.
"We had the game on our terms, we were pretty happy at quarter-time with how we approached it.
"We did not take our chances and we could not have spent more time on that over the off-season in regards to our set-shot goalkicking and conversion. Quite easily we could have been three or four goals up at half-time.
"Really the message was we had 30 minutes of footy that worried a Grand Final side, that worried the premiership favourites for the year.
"But if we're going to be a good side we've got to be able to do that for longer."
Buckley dismissed suggestions selecting experienced pair Ben Hudson and Quinten Lynch would have bolstered the Pies' ruck division as it took on Aaron Sandilands and his sidekick Jack Hannath.
The Pies coach praised the efforts of ruckmen Brodie Grundy, who does not turn 20 until next month, and Jarrod Witts, 21, saying they "broke even at worst" against the Freo duo.
The Magpies were also without key forwards Ben Reid and Jesse White due to calf injuries, but Buckley said the pair were expected to be available for their round two clash against the Sydney Swans in a fortnight.
Buckley said the Pies remained confident they had completed a strong pre-season and were "up and about" for 2014, but just had no answer to Freo's "aggressive" ball movement and greater experience.
"We had a young side. We would have liked to have more experience … but in the end we played a side that had 20 of their Grand Final side from last year in and if that's where we're at that's where we're at," Buckley said.
"We will more than likely sit at the bottom of the ladder with our percentage at the end of round one, but we will be four points away from the top team.
"So it's a loss, it's a poor loss, but you don't wrap the season up.
"We've clearly got some players who performed really well … but we just didn't have enough support, there weren't enough troops, there wasn't enough weight of numbers for long enough.
"So the heat goes on if you don't perform – players and coaches and administrators alike."
Buckley said he had told his players after the game to take a positive out of troubling one of 2014's flag fancies for a quarter, but they had to learn to sustain that effort for longer.
"The churning in the guts that we're all feeling at the moment is not something you just ignore," Buckley said.
"We had the game on our terms, we were pretty happy at quarter-time with how we approached it.
"We did not take our chances and we could not have spent more time on that over the off-season in regards to our set-shot goalkicking and conversion. Quite easily we could have been three or four goals up at half-time.
"Really the message was we had 30 minutes of footy that worried a Grand Final side, that worried the premiership favourites for the year.
"But if we're going to be a good side we've got to be able to do that for longer."
Buckley dismissed suggestions selecting experienced pair Ben Hudson and Quinten Lynch would have bolstered the Pies' ruck division as it took on Aaron Sandilands and his sidekick Jack Hannath.
The Pies coach praised the efforts of ruckmen Brodie Grundy, who does not turn 20 until next month, and Jarrod Witts, 21, saying they "broke even at worst" against the Freo duo.
The Magpies were also without key forwards Ben Reid and Jesse White due to calf injuries, but Buckley said the pair were expected to be available for their round two clash against the Sydney Swans in a fortnight.
Buckley said the Pies remained confident they had completed a strong pre-season and were "up and about" for 2014, but just had no answer to Freo's "aggressive" ball movement and greater experience.
"We had a young side. We would have liked to have more experience … but in the end we played a side that had 20 of their Grand Final side from last year in and if that's where we're at that's where we're at," Buckley said.
