COLLINGWOOD'S bounty from the Gillette AFL Exchange Period is still to be determined, but the club's best acquisition might be on its coaching panel.
Magpie great Scott Burns' return to the club as an assistant coach has been accompanied by an element of romance, along with the promise of success.
After retiring at the end of 2008, the highly-rated Burns spent five years as an assistant coach at West Coast, before missing out on the Eagles job to Adam Simpson.
In signing a three-year deal with Collingwood, the 38-year-old has reunited with Nathan Buckley, his old captain, mate and now coach.
It appears a powerful alliance, and one that their former longtime teammates Ben Johnson and Josh Fraser believe could help drive the Magpies to sustained success.
"'Burnsy' is a massive get for Collingwood," Fraser told AFL.com.au. "With the experience he gained under John Worsfold at a quality organisation, he'll be a great addition."
Johnson says: "It's exciting. Firstly, Burnsy is one of the best people you could meet. He was also the equal-hardest teammate I played with; and he's going to help the backs, forwards and mids because he played in all those positions."
Fraser was surprised Burns didn't land a head coaching position, or the coach-in-waiting role under Paul Roos at Melbourne.
"So for Collingwood to get him is a bonus," he said. "I think the club is in great shape having two past champions who work well together."
Both Fraser and Johnson agree that the duo will challenge each other, and that Burns will inject fresh ideas.
"Footy's not all black and white to Burnsy," Fraser said. "There are things from left field that need to be considered. He'll balance Bucks out nicely."
The Pies' new midfield coach, Burns will ensure a more balanced approach from Collingwood's onballers.
"Clearly they need to work on their accountability, and I reckon Burnsy will be big on that," Fraser said. "With a young ruckman in (Brodie) Grundy and some younger players filtering through the middle, they mightn't be as offensive as in the past."
Buckley and Burns share a long past, one that might provide clues to their future together.
They were teammates for 14 years, and played more games alongside one another (195) than anyone else.
Much of their mutual admiration was expressed in Buckley's 2008 autobiography All I Can Be.
Buckley lamented that observers highlighted Burns' hardness and overlooked his considerable skills; while Burns said many highlighted Buckley's skills and overlooked his hardness.
Burns hailed Buckley as the greatest player he had seen, marvelling at his intensity, consistency and rare combination of endurance, strength and explosiveness.
Buckley believed Burns was as professional as anyone he played with, but never received the public kudos he deserved.
Their bond became so strong that they easily brushed off a controversy that might have strained, and perhaps fractured, a less secure relationship.
In November 2000, after Collingwood's second season with Buckley as skipper and Burns as his deputy, The Age's Caroline Wilson aired a rumour that some teammates were tired of Buckley's demanding leadership style and wanted Burns to replace him.
Buckley was unconcerned – he regarded Burns as completely loyal and trustworthy. (The feeling was, and clearly remains, mutual.) They addressed the issue for a matter of seconds. Burns rubbished the rumour, and it was never raised again.
Burns was a strong supporter of Buckley's leadership, and bemoaned the fact that he was never named All Australian captain. "I just don't know what more he had to do," Burns said.
Meanwhile, Buckley regarded Burns as the Pies' spiritual leader, and a great lieutenant.
Despite the polar-opposite perceptions of the team leaders – Buckley as a headstrong individualist and Burns as a quiet-achieving team man – All I Can Be exposed some surprising similarities.
"People seem to view Bucks in a certain way and me in another, yet we're pretty similar," Burns said.
"I reckon I agreed with the direction he wanted to take the group as captain about 95 per cent of the time. We still had our disagreements, but they were minor. He reckoned I was stubborn, but I reckoned he was stubborn, and neither of us would budge on that.
"All our philosophies on football and life are just about identical. Respect and discipline are the two main things. We don't like whingers or people who make excuses, and we both can't stand blokes who say something but don't back it up."
Ray McLean, the founding director of Leading Teams, placed them in the same category of leader, in that they were "hard-nosed and task-focused, as in: 'We need to get the job done, so if we have to trample a few people along the way, we'll do that'."
Burns also revealed that Buckley was actually far more accommodating of lazy or undisciplined players. While Burns wouldn't waste his time on such individuals, he noted that Buckley tried to "help and educate that bloke and … get him back into the group".
The perception that Buckley constantly bagged his teammates on the field was also overblown, according to Burns, who thought he was just as guilty in that regard himself.
"I felt the media singled out Bucks unfairly … I thought: 'If they isolated me at times, I'd be saying just as much'," he said.
Burns felt they complemented each other. In fact, he regarded himself as Buckley's best ally, explaining that the skipper was "so far ahead of all of his teammates that a few of them probably felt they could relate a bit better to a little nuggetty bloke who just tried hard and wasn't anything special".
Fraser says both are "deadly serious about their footy but can also lighten the mood".
Occasionally at training, Burns would impersonate Buckley by lifting his socks and shorts to maximum height, tucking in his guernsey, spiking his hair, and placing sticking plaster above both eyebrows to achieve an angry look. Buckley would respond by mimicking Burns: pulling his socks down, untucking his jumper and parting his hair.
After the 2007 Copeland Trophy count and after-party – Buckley's last as captain – they shared a taxi ride home and shed a few tears during a rare heart-to-heart chat.
"Burnsy and I had always been close, but neither of us was prone to great outpourings of emotion," Buckley recalled in his book. "But for 20 minutes in the back of that cab, we spilled our guts to each other for the first time about how privileged we felt to have been teammates – and mates – for so long."
And now they are back together, plotting to win the premiership that proved so elusive when they were teammates.
• Ben Collins co-authored Nathan Buckley: All I Can Be, published by Penguin in 2008.
