Maxwell will wear the No.5 jumper from 2008, although the 24 year-old admitted to reservations about taking on such a responsibility.
Magpie greats including Copeland Trophy-winner Barry Price and triple grand finalist Ron Wearmouth have worn the No.5 jumper.
Six-time Copeland Trophy winner Buckley surprised Maxwell on an end-of-season trip the pair took with teammate Josh Fraser.
“As soon as we sat on the plane to go, as soon as we sat down he said, ‘I want to get this out of the way right now, I want you to wear my number’,” Maxwell recalled.
“It sort of hit me for six because I’d never even considered it at all. It had never crossed my mind.”
It’s fair to say Maxwell’s mind on the way to San Diego and Las Vegas was racing, with the 72-gamer uncertain how to respond.
“At first I sort of said ‘Oh, I’m not too keen on doing it’, obviously because of who he was and I suppose the pressures that would come with that,” he said.
“But after I spoke to a few people I realised the influence he had on my career and that it would be the right thing to do and just out of respect for him.
“If that was his request then I was happy to do it … and I think he’s pretty happy with me saying I’d do it.”
Joking that he was sorry he would be disappointing the Magpies masses who did have his old No.27 on their Collingwood jumper – “both of them” – Maxwell said he was looking forward to “having a few more people with my number on their backs!”
Some Magpie faithful believe the move could be symbolic of things to come for Maxwell, who is among a group of players in contention for the captaincy Buckley has also vacated.
The club leaves for South Africa and Dubai this weekend, but Maxwell doesn’t believe the trip will play a huge part in captaincy permutations.
“I think that by this stage Mick [Malthouse] knows who the candidates are and who’s a chance and who’s not,” he said.
“It [the captaincy] is not really a focus for us, it’s still sort of six or eight weeks away from being decided so at this stage all we’re trying to do is get our team up to where we have to be, get them up to the game plan and make sure the young guys know what they’re talking about.”
Maxwell said the captaincy was likely to be rotated between the senior players during the pre-season, with an announcement unlikely until shortly before the AFL season.
