NATHAN Buckley has broken a few records in his decorated AFL career, but here's one he'll be keen to avoid as a matter of urgency.

The Collingwood legend's tortured quest for a premiership is in danger of becoming the longest in League history. 

In a statistic that perhaps best encapsulates Buckley's torment, unless he wins that elusive flag with the Magpies next year he will become the equal record-holder – along with vanquished Fremantle coach Ross Lyon – for the most seasons without a premiership as a player and/or head coach (24). 

So if the Pies coach is still without a flag after the following season, 2021, he'll be in uncharted territory. Unless, of course, Lyon gets another coaching gig and continues his own unfulfilled journey. 

However, both men have come mighty close to claiming breakthrough premierships. 

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Buckley, who might well have won multiple premierships as a player had he either remained with Brisbane or joined North Melbourne rather than Collingwood, captained the Magpies to successive Grand Final losses to Brisbane in 2002 (when he won the Norm Smith Medal but the Pies lost by nine points) and 2003 (by 50 points). 

The heartbreak has become more acute in the past two seasons for Buckley, who coached the Pies to a five-point defeat to West Coast in the 2018 Grand Final after his team scored the first five goals; and in September they lost their preliminary final to Greater Western Sydney by four points in an upset at the MCG, after which a shattered Buckley lamented that the 2019 season felt like "a waste". 

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Meanwhile, Lyon's St Kilda lost deciders in 2009 (to Geelong by 12 points after leading 20 minutes into the last quarter) and 2010 (to Collingwood by 56 points in the replay after leading late in the drawn game the previous week) before lifting the Dockers to their first Grand Final in 2013 (going down to Hawthorn by 15 points after blazing 2.4 with the last six scoring shots of the game). 

This pair hasn't been completely luckless given they enjoyed the ultimate success as assistant coaches – Buckley under his predecessor Mick Malthouse at Collingwood in 2010, and Lyon under Paul Roos at Sydney in 2005. 

Buckley's loyal assistant Robert Harvey is equal-fourth on the list with 21 seasons as a player without a premiership, while the Pies coaching panel also includes flagless trio Brenton Sanderson (17), Garry Hocking (15) and Scott Selwood (12). The Magpies new defensive coach Matthew Boyd saluted with the Western Bulldogs in 2016. 

Sixth on the list is Giants coach Leon Cameron (20), who this year ended the longest wait for a first Grand Final appearance (399 games as a player and/or coach), only for his team to be hammered by Richmond.

Among other long-serving current players and coaches yet to win a premiership are Carlton backman Kade Simpson (who is entering his 18th season) and Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley (17th).

• Information supplied by AFL statisticians and historians Col Hutchinson and Stephen Rodgers.