New Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has denied rumours of player discontent at his club but former AFL great Wayne Carey insists they are true.

Buckley performed impressively at a Tuesday media conference after an extraordinary three days of fallout from the Magpies’ Friday night shocker against Carlton.

But Carey went on the radio show hosted by Magpies president Eddie McGuire to back up the original claim he made on Sunday.

Carey said six or seven Collingwood player “don’t get along” with Buckley.

“I am 100 per cent right … I wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t true,” Carey said on McGuire’s Triple M program.

“Players weren’t happy with the pre-season this year.”

McGuire responded by saying he trusted Carey.

“Wayne isn’t the person to come out and go silly on headlines … (he) actually posed it and positioned his premise in a perfectly logical way,” McGuire added.

McGuire volunteered Dane Swan might be one player not totally happy with the new regime but noted the Brownlow Medallist signed a contract extension a year ago.

Swan is one of more than a dozen players still on Collingwood’s list to have played alongside Buckley, who retired after the 2007 season.

McGuire strongly backed Buckley and the tougher pre-season undertaken by the playing group.

“There’s going to be a step up, it’s called the evolution of the game,” McGuire said.

McGuire defended the succession plan he brokered three years ago, where Mick Malthouse agreed to hand over the senior coaching role to Buckley.

Simmering tensions between McGuire and Malthouse exploded into some angry exchanges through the media on Sunday and Monday.

“(There was) a bit of personal umbrage yesterday, big deal, we’re grown men, have a spat, shake hands and get on with it as far as I’m concerned,” McGuire said.

Buckley said he had seen or heard no signs of player discord and was confident he would know about such problems.

“I don’t know where that’s coming from,” Buckley said.

“I’ve had no awareness or understanding – nothing has cropped up like that.

“No rumours concern me, the only thing that concerns me is our performance on the weekend and the fact that we need to be better on Saturday.”

Buckley stayed out of the McGuire-Malthouse spat, saying his president was a passionate defender of the club.

He said no one outside the club had a better knowledge of the Collingwood team than Malthouse.

“I take note of his comments … he’s very accurate,” Buckley said.

“We should listen to what he says.”

But Buckley admitted the last few days had been “not great” for Collingwood and said a miscommunication between McGuire and Malthouse had inflamed their media stoush.

The Magpies coach added that his sole priority was improving the team ahead of Saturday’s must-win game against Port Adelaide.

Buckley noted that Geelong, who beat Collingwood in last year’s grand final, also lost on the weekend and the two teams have one win from three games.

“But the scenarios and situation around Collingwood are a little sexier at the moment,” Buckley said.

“We understand if we don’t perform there’s going to be heat and if we do perform, you are going to be able to go about your business without the paraphernalia that surrounds it.”