Nathan Buckley’s past 12 months is the latest instalment in the AFL version of nature v nurture.
Do a great coach and a great team make a great club? Or is it the other way around?
Much the same thing happened to Mark Thompson at Geelong in 2006-07 and then Damien Hardwick at Richmond in 2016-17.
Collingwood hope that Buckley is just one day away from joining the pair as premiership coaches.
Buckley’s turnaround – from surviving by the skin of his teeth in August last year to coaching the Magpies in Saturday’s grand final – is arguably even more remarkable than what happened to Thompson and Hardwick.
At least when those two coaches had their backs against the wall, they had recent finals appearances to their names.
This is Collingwood’s first September appearance since 2013.
There’s a common thread through what has happened to Thompson, Hardwick and Buckley – a stable, well-led, transformed football department.
Just as football director Neil Balme made a massive difference when he left Collingwood and went to Geelong, then left the Magpies again and joined Richmond, so Buckley has benefited enormously from Geoff Walsh’s stewardship as football director.
Walsh has run Collingwood’s football administration since December 2016, easily the most continuity in that role since he originally left in 2013.
The position became a revolving door in 2014-16, with Rodney Eade, Balme and then Graeme Allan coming and going.
The low point was late 2016, when Allan only lasted a few weeks before accepting a 12-month AFL ban for helping GWS star Lachie Whitfield avoid a potential doping test.
Walsh stepped in and while it took 12 months longer than the immediate rebounds at Geelong and Richmond, eventually Collingwood and Buckley found their mojo.
Everything turned on August last year, when the Magpies reappointed Buckley.
“Some may call it patience – I think the other word for it is perspective,” Buckley said on Friday.
“It’s important to know who you are and what you’re not, I suppose, in the same breath.”
At the time, the Magpies were closing out another barren season with a couple of wins and a couple of close losses.
“I was really in the moment – so if you go back to the last three or four rounds of last year, we were still trying to find our best footy,” Buckley said
“The last couple of weeks of last year were important, for this group.”
Then came the outcomes of their controversial football department review, with fitness boss Bill Davoren made the scapegoat and Matthew Boyd, Justin Longmuir and Garry Hocking joining as assistant coaches.
Significantly, over time Buckley has also lightened up.
Notorious for his perfectionism and also exposed at times for his naivety, one of the greatest figures in Collingwood’s history has grown a beard and changed his attitude.
Collingwood players repeatedly cite Buckley’s more relaxed demeanour as a key factor in what has gone right this season.
The man himself speaks of his pride in his players and the club.
“We’ve skinned our knees, had to dust ourselves off and I think going through experiences has made us a far more resilient, tighter-knit group,” Buckley said.
“We feel like we have plenty to look forward to beyond (Saturday) as well, because we’re looking after one another a lot better.
“It’s mainly pride – pride’s the overwhelming emotion.”