LATE June, 2009.
Nathan Buckley is told the North Melbourne senior coaching job is his, if he wants it.
Two years into retirement, Collingwood's greatest player – already identified as a Collingwood coach-in-waiting – is not even required to subject himself to a recruitment process, with chairman James Brayshaw and his North board identifying the then-36-year-old as the man to replace Dean Laidley.
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In two separate meetings with Buckley – one with Buckley's manager Craig Kelly present, the other with Buckley's wife Tania included – Brayshaw, seeking to rebuild the dreadfully fractured Kangaroos, presents the North case.
"When Dean resigned, as a board we could go through a process, or identify someone we wanted to talk to, and we identified Nathan Buckley," Brayshaw told AFL.com.au this week.
"It was a decision that was made to avoid the process palaver. We spoke with Ned (Kelly, Buckley's manager), outlined our vision, what we stood for, where we believed Nathan fitted into that.
"And he handled it all with the integrity that drew us to him in the first place. He was brilliant, couldn't have displayed any more class."
Buckley soaking up the main training session ahead of the Grand Final. Picture: AFL Photos
That Buckley's first official offer to be a senior AFL coach came from a high-profile club president who wasn't Eddie McGuire ultimately compelled McGuire to act.
And as Buckley now fine-tunes Collingwood's preparation for Saturday's Grand Final against West Coast, the events of June and July 2009 are even more significant in the Buckley coaching story than the extensively analysed Magpies' whole-of-club review of 2017, which saw him retained as coach against all odds.
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McGuire knew by late July 2009 that if he was to keep control of a man he had come to respect like few others, and who as a Pie had won Brownlow and Norm Smith Medals as well as six Copeland Trophies, he'd need to provide a genuinely compelling scenario.
So, on a Saturday morning after a round 17 match against Carlton at the MCG, McGuire called a breakfast meeting of Buckley, Magpies coach Mick Malthouse, CEO Gary Pert and football department head Geoff Walsh at his Jolimont base.
An hour into the meeting, McGuire, Pert and Walsh left Buckley and Malthouse alone in the room, where the two effectively agreed to McGuire's plan: Malthouse to stop coaching at the end of 2011, Buckley to coach from 2012.
Eddie McGuire announces the Pies' coaching succession plan. Picture: AFL Photos
"I have been rapt for Bucks this year, because there was just something about him way back then in those meetings that we had where you knew he was going to be as elite a coach as he was a player, provided he got the right opportunities," Brayshaw said.
"You watch what he went through last year, and the class he carried throughout, and I was just so pleased for him that he was re-contracted.
"We saw all of that class and integrity ourselves when we met with him, knew straight away he had the potential to be a great AFL coach.
"Because of his connection with Collingwood, we thought it would have been better for him to coach elsewhere, at least initially, but he wanted to coach at Collingwood, and good on him.
"I think he was flattered by our approach, but he analysed it all and decided to stay.
"We've never had cause to revisit anything about any of that, because it worked out beautifully for us anyway. We then went through a process, and that process got us Brad Scott, who has been outstanding."
Twitter: @barrettdamian
