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Nathan Buckley can pinpoint the moment he knew coaching at the elite level was for him. The Buckley-coached Victoria Country under 16 team had just belted out a rousing rendition of its team song after securing its third straight win of the 2009 national championships.
That was in early July, 2009, and the former Collingwood champion, 18 months removed from the last of his 280 AFL games, knew where he was heading.
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“The seed was planted a long time ago, basically through a love of the game and the fascination with how teams get the best out of themselves and how individuals come together to become a team,” Buckley told In Black & White.
“One of the things that acted as a real catalyst for me wanting to pursue coaching was being involved with the under 16 Vic Country side. There was that moment in particular, when the boys came in after a victory during the national championships, and they sang the song together. It was the first time I experienced genuine excitement in footy since I’d retired from playing. I realised then that you could get the same buzz from being involved in a team as a coach as you can as a player.”
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Less than three weeks later, at a packed media conference at Collingwood headquarters, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire proudly announced that Buckley would re-join the Magpies as an assistant coach for two years, before taking over as senior coach from 2012.
While accomplishing almost everything as a player, what eluded the Brownlow Medallist was standing triumphantly on the victory dais on Grand Final day. That flame of hope remains well and truly ablaze, but it was a genuine affection for the game that drew him back to Collingwood.
“My motivation to coach comes down to the fact that I love the game, I love being part of a team,” he says.
“I now understand that, as a coach, I can still make a significant contribution and experience the same feeling of reward that comes from the contribution that you make as a player.”
A man with his pedigree and experience in football would, of course, draw attention from a number of potential suitors, and Buckley found himself facing a tough decision. Would he go straight into senior coaching at AFL level, or be groomed for a period of time before taking the reins of a club?
Plus, would he even end up at Collingwood?
“I’m a Collingwood person,” he says. “I’ve always felt like a Collingwood person, so there’s no doubt that when I weighed things up, the opportunity to come back and stay involved at the club that I played at was a definite attraction. The opportunity to work in this environment for a couple of years, to learn, adapt and evolve ... and spend time being involved in a coaching panel was definitely an attraction as well."
Read the remainder of the article in the April edition of the 'In Black and White' magazine available to purchase online.
