So we are interviewing six candidates for our Senior Coach, one of the candidates is Nathan Buckley. The club wants someone with atleast eight years experience at a state league or AFL level.

It appears the club is not looking for successful coaches as they are interviewing Nathan Buckley 🤔 He only ever lost a Grandfinal to the Eagles. Our recent track record with recruitment from Collingwood has been a disaster 😕

I starting to feel this is another John Todd moment to me.

11 minutes ago, DemonFrog said:

So we are interviewing six candidates for our Senior Coach, one of the candidates is Nathan Buckley. The club wants someone with atleast eight years experience at a state league or AFL level.

It appears the club is not looking for successful coaches as they are interviewing Nathan Buckley 🤔 He only ever lost a Grandfinal to the Eagles. Our recent track record with recruitment from Collingwood has been a disaster 😕

I starting to feel this is another John Todd moment to me.

He was one free kick or missed kick by Sheed from being a Premiership Coach.

Ross Lyon has had three stints and is so far unsuccessful. Is he a good Coach? Bevo has won one flag, when everything went his way, especially including the umpiring in one year and has failed with good player lists every other year, is he a successful Coach. Fagan has one flag with a team full of stars and multiple benefits provided to his club, is he a successful Coach?

Longmire and Simmo each only had one flag and many failures, are they successful Coaches?

Not sure there are that many successful Coaches available, other than maybe Sheedy, Pagan and Malthouse.

9 minutes ago, Redleg said:

He was one free kick or missed kick by Sheed from being a Premiership Coach.

Ross Lyon has had three stints and is so far unsuccessful. Is he a good Coach? Bevo has won one flag, when everything went his way, especially including the umpiring in one year and has failed with good player lists every other year, is he a successful Coach. Fagan has one flag with a team full of stars and multiple benefits provided to his club, is he a successful Coach?

Longmire and Simmo each only had one flag and many failures, are they successful Coaches?

Not sure there are that many successful Coaches available, other than maybe Sheedy, Pagan and Malthouse.

Sheedy must be in his 70s - too old. Pagan and Malthouse got nowhere with Carlton. They too would be past retirement age.

Just now, Go Ds said:

Sheedy must be in his 70s - too old. Pagan and Malthouse got nowhere with Carlton. They too would be past retirement age.

I was joking.

Just now, Redleg said:

I was joking.

Thought so. But still... you're right about coaches. There's a few great ones about but all taken. There's no real reason why Buckley's coaching ability can't get a flag with us. Most tried coaches don't return ....and the ones that got within a goal of a flag sure deserve extra merit than someone like Hinkley or Leon Cameron.

33 minutes ago, Go Ds said:

Thought so. But still... you're right about coaches. There's a few great ones about but all taken. There's no real reason why Buckley's coaching ability can't get a flag with us. Most tried coaches don't return ....and the ones that got within a goal of a flag sure deserve extra merit than someone like Hinkley or Leon Cameron.

Yes we can only do our best, appoint who we think can succeed, looks like Buckley and hope he has learned from his first stint and now is a very good Coach.

Then of course multiple factors will play their part. We will need the best from everyone and getting as many decisions right as possible.

To me the best Coach atm is Chris Scott who seems to have it all.

23 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Yes we can only do our best, appoint who we think can succeed, looks like Buckley and hope he has learned from his first stint and now is a very good Coach.

Then of course multiple factors will play their part. We will need the best from everyone and getting as many decisions right as possible.

To me the best Coach atm is Chris Scott who seems to have it all.

It's always an educated guess. It's easy to use lazy stats and say that a coach years ago with 2 flags is better than Bucks because of those flags even though he (Buckley) actually underachieved. Or perhaps we underated the players Buckley coached. Who knows? It does look like he knows what he's talking about and he's had time to reflect, without getting too rusty. Admittedly every coach appointment for decades would have been carefully and diligently decided, as this one will be too. Then again for better or worse we might end up with a Mark Neeld or a Leigh Matthews. Fingers crossed the latter.

1 hour ago, Go Ds said:

It's always an educated guess. It's easy to use lazy stats and say that a coach years ago with 2 flags is better than Bucks because of those flags even though he (Buckley) actually underachieved. Or perhaps we underated the players Buckley coached. Who knows? It does look like he knows what he's talking about and he's had time to reflect, without getting too rusty. Admittedly every coach appointment for decades would have been carefully and diligently decided, as this one will be too. Then again for better or worse we might end up with a Mark Neeld or a Leigh Matthews. Fingers crossed the latter.

One thing that should improve immediately is an end to the media negativity, given Buck's mates in the media.

Edited Monday at 01:384 days by Redleg

On 08/09/2025 at 06:10, Redleg said:

He was one free kick or missed kick by Sheed from being a Premiership Coach.

Ross Lyon has had three stints and is so far unsuccessful. Is he a good Coach? Bevo has won one flag, when everything went his way, especially including the umpiring in one year and has failed with good player lists every other year, is he a successful Coach. Fagan has one flag with a team full of stars and multiple benefits provided to his club, is he a successful Coach?

Longmire and Simmo each only had one flag and many failures, are they successful Coaches?

Not sure there are that many successful Coaches available, other than maybe Sheedy, Pagan and Malthouse.

You make some good points

On 08/09/2025 at 06:10, Redleg said:

He was one free kick or missed kick by Sheed from being a Premiership Coach.

Ross Lyon has had three stints and is so far unsuccessful. Is he a good Coach? Bevo has won one flag, when everything went his way, especially including the umpiring in one year and has failed with good player lists every other year, is he a successful Coach. Fagan has one flag with a team full of stars and multiple benefits provided to his club, is he a successful Coach?

Longmire and Simmo each only had one flag and many failures, are they successful Coaches?

Not sure there are that many successful Coaches available, other than maybe Sheedy, Pagan and Malthouse.

Playing a Grandfinal against the Eagles on Collingwood's home ground must be worth a three or four goal headstart! That one of the major advantages the Melbourne based AFL teams has in winning a premiership. As a Melbourne supporter I can accept this advantage, although Melbourne has not won a premiership at the G in the past 61 seasons. But that another issue.

Buckley's biggest claim to fan was he lost a Grandfinal by under a goal. Well in football there is no prizes for coming second, it's winner takes all.

The same argument could be made about the Eagles having an extra free kick in front of goals or a point becomes a goal, then they win by 12 or more points. It's football, there is a certain amount of luck involved in the outcome. Fortune favours the brave.

I just a simple country boy from the West, who wants Melbourne to win every Grandfinal it can. I can't see that happening if we recruit more coaches etc. from Collingwood, particularly Nathan Buckley who is a rusted on Collingwood supporter. IMO Collingwood underperformed during his time as their head coach, that's why they got rid of him.

Real success in the AFL is the number of premierships a club/coach/player can win. Unfortunately, Melbourne has only won one premiership in the past 61 seasons. However, I feel the Melbourne board considers success as playing finals football, that is why we are looking for a new head coach.

3 hours ago, DemonFrog said:

You make some good points

Playing a Grandfinal against the Eagles on Collingwood's home ground must be worth a three or four goal headstart! That one of the major advantages the Melbourne based AFL teams has in winning a premiership. As a Melbourne supporter I can accept this advantage, although Melbourne has not won a premiership at the G in the past 61 seasons. But that another issue.

Buckley's biggest claim to fan was he lost a Grandfinal by under a goal. Well in football there is no prizes for coming second, it's winner takes all.

The same argument could be made about the Eagles having an extra free kick in front of goals or a point becomes a goal, then they win by 12 or more points. It's football, there is a certain amount of luck involved in the outcome. Fortune favours the brave.

I just a simple country boy from the West, who wants Melbourne to win every Grandfinal it can. I can't see that happening if we recruit more coaches etc. from Collingwood, particularly Nathan Buckley who is a rusted on Collingwood supporter. IMO Collingwood underperformed during his time as their head coach, that's why they got rid of him.

Real success in the AFL is the number of premierships a club/coach/player can win. Unfortunately, Melbourne has only won one premiership in the past 61 seasons. However, I feel the Melbourne board considers success as playing finals football, that is why we are looking for a new head coach.

Not sure about discounting someone from another club for that reason alone.

That discounts 17-18ths of the available candidates to clubs for Coaching appointments.

The Pies last 3 flags were Coached by non Pies people, who would have hated them when they played at their clubs.

On 08/09/2025 at 08:10, Redleg said:

Bevo has won one flag, when everything went his way, especially including the umpiring in one year and has failed with good player lists every other year, is he a successful Coach.

I agree that Beveridge hasn't got that list to near the top as often as it should have, but I'm not sure everything went their way in 2016. In fact, on the injury front, for example, it was quite the opposite.

29 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

I agree that Beveridge hasn't got that list to near the top as often as it should have, but I'm not sure everything went their way in 2016. In fact, on the injury front, for example, it was quite the opposite.

I recall that the newly created bye allowed them to get their best team on the park in the finals.

The Swans were apparently furious at the GF umpiring, which gifted the Dogs the game.

"An AFL review of the umpiring post game found it was not up to the standard expected, with three or four decisions incorrectly going against Sydney among an overall free kick count of 20–8 favouring the Bulldogs. The differential of 12 was the biggest in a Grand Final since the three-umpire system was introduced."

"A former AFL umpire has checked the tape of the match between the Western Bulldogs and the Adelaide Crows in 2016, claiming he counted eight unwarranted free kicks to the Bulldogs."

"At one point it was something like 18 to 4 and the Bulldogs kicked around 4 goals from very questionable free kicks"

The umpire involved in nearly all those goals and free kicks is now in jail and this game has been mentioned again in dispatches.

Edited Tuesday at 04:473 days by Redleg

3 minutes ago, Redleg said:

I recall that the newly created bye allowed them to get their best team on the park in the finals.

I think the bye helped get a couple back, but Bob Murphy, Mitch Wallis and Marcus Adams were all well inside their best 22. Jack Redpath wasn't the same calibre of player as those three, but was in the midst of his best season, going at 2 goals a game, when he did his knee.

Arguably also worth mentioning: Matt Suckling was comfortably best 22 that year and was named an emergency after an achilles injury. And Stewart Crameri got done for the Essendon doping while at the Bulldogs; at the time he was a regular going at well over 1.5 goals a game.

14 minutes ago, Redleg said:

The Swans were apparently furious at the GF umpiring, which gifted the Dogs the game.

Swans fans were definitely furious about the umpiring. There was a very large difference between free kicks received. The AFL reviewed the game and said it was below the standard expected. But "gifted"? That's tough. They won from 7th with 15 wins for the season and had to beat the previous year's grand finalists to get there, including West Coast in Perth. I thought they played extremely well on the day (and in the whole finals series).

The Swans had also spent almost 20 years benefiting from COLA, which wasn't scrapped until a year before the 2016 GF. The Academy had also been running for six years and had produced Heeney and Mills.


Anyway, I think your point about what makes a "good" coach being highly subjective is fair.

I'm not sure if Buckley is the unappreciated genius some people seem to think he is, but I can definitely see some of the most repeated criticisms are unfair. Or at least debatable.

1 hour ago, Redleg said:

Not sure about discounting someone from another club for that reason alone.

That discounts 17-18ths of the available candidates to clubs for Coaching appointments.

The Pies last 3 flags were Coached by non Pies people, who would have hated them when they played at their clubs.

As long as the new coach doesn't come from either Collingwood or Essendon, I don't really care about their previous club associations.

As regards to Collingwood, I give you Mark Needle. IMO nothing more needs to be said.

29 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

I think the bye helped get a couple back, but Bob Murphy, Mitch Wallis and Marcus Adams were all well inside their best 22. Jack Redpath wasn't the same calibre of player as those three, but was in the midst of his best season, going at 2 goals a game, when he did his knee.

Arguably also worth mentioning: Matt Suckling was comfortably best 22 that year and was named an emergency after an achilles injury. And Stewart Crameri got done for the Essendon doping while at the Bulldogs; at the time he was a regular going at well over 1.5 goals a game.

Swans fans were definitely furious about the umpiring. There was a very large difference between free kicks received. The AFL reviewed the game and said it was below the standard expected. But "gifted"? That's tough. They won from 7th with 15 wins for the season and had to beat the previous year's grand finalists to get there, including West Coast in Perth. I thought they played extremely well on the day (and in the whole finals series).

The Swans had also spent almost 20 years benefiting from COLA, which wasn't scrapped until a year before the 2016 GF. The Academy had also been running for six years and had produced Heeney and Mills.


Anyway, I think your point about what makes a "good" coach being highly subjective is fair.

I'm not sure if Buckley is the unappreciated genius some people seem to think he is, but I can definitely see some of the most repeated criticisms are unfair. Or at least debatable.

When it’s said and done, we both want the best Coach available for the Dees.

Just now, DemonFrog said:

As long as the new coach doesn't come from either Collingwood or Essendon, I don't really care about their previous club associations.

As regards to Collingwood, I give you Mark Needle. IMO nothing more needs to be said.

I think you are going to be disappointed then.

4 minutes ago, Redleg said:

I think you are going to be disappointed then.

Will not be the first time, Red.

On 08/09/2025 at 08:10, Redleg said:

He was one free kick or missed kick by Sheed from being a Premiership Coach.

Ross Lyon has had three stints and is so far unsuccessful. Is he a good Coach? Bevo has won one flag, when everything went his way, especially including the umpiring in one year and has failed with good player lists every other year, is he a successful Coach. Fagan has one flag with a team full of stars and multiple benefits provided to his club, is he a successful Coach?

Longmire and Simmo each only had one flag and many failures, are they successful Coaches?

Not sure there are that many successful Coaches available, other than maybe Sheedy, Pagan and Malthouse.

Like when MFC went out in straight sets. We were usually within x amount of points but still gutted. BRING BACK GOODWIN!!

Edited Tuesday at 06:433 days by redandbluemakepurple

On 09/09/2025 at 14:26, redandbluemakepurple said:

Like when MFC went out in straight sets. We were usually within x amount of points but still gutted. BRING BACK GOODWIN!!

I don't think Goodwin is coming back.

12 minutes ago, DemonFrog said:

I don't think Goodwin is coming back.

You also got your "no C$&!(# people" wish ... 🤣

20 minutes ago, Red and Bluebeard said:

You also got your "no C$&!(# people" wish ... 🤣

True, I wanted Goodwin gone. In my view we needed new leadership. But now I worried we are about to get more ex Collingwood staff. That never ends well for us.