Caro - Malthouse & Bucks together won't work/ Mike says it will and they've met

[one-eyed]

Coaching farce is damaging Pies
Caroline Wilson | July 23, 2009

IT IS impossible to pinpoint a more farcical situation in AFL football than the behind-the-scenes drama being played out at the Collingwood Football Club.

In fact, if the stakes were not so high and the environment not so poisonous, the storyline would be more worthy of a Strauchanie skit. How unthinkable is it that Mick Malthouse, of all people, should be toyed with in such disregard?

It is also impossible to believe that Nathan Buckley could be seriously considering a partnership with his former coach rather than accepting a senior position elsewhere or simply waiting in the wings for the next perfect opportunity. And yet Buckley and Malthouse, to the best of our knowledge, have met recently to discuss such an insidious scenario.

Equally unthinkable that the outfit rebuilt from scratch in such majestic fashion by Eddie McGuire could have allowed this unprofessional scenario to be taking place just six weeks from September.

Emotions in the football department are running at fever pitch for all the wrong reasons in the lead-up to a Friday night clash with Carlton. Many working under Malthouse have contracts tied to his. Others in senior positions have become disgusted on his behalf. The man himself is on edge, wired and angry, and it is horrible to envisage just how detrimental to all concerned a loss to the Blues would prove.

Or is it so unthinkable? Just one year after the president's famous "Gold Logie" speech to his errant players, McGuire seems to be struggling again with his battle between the club versus the individual.

The story so far has Malthouse, 56 last Friday but still on top of his game, in the final year of a contract believing back in March that he would be given an extension after a conversation with McGuire. In the past, such an agreement would have been honoured, but process — football's buzzword — appears to have permeated even the Magpies administration and their previously acquiescent board.

McGuire has not delivered on his stated intention to Malthouse partly because Buckley announced he wanted to re-enter the club environment next season, and Collingwood insiders wanted Malthouse to wait a little longer. A McGuire interview published on Anzac Day entertaining a near future without the incumbent upset Malthouse and forced an agreement that all parties would shut up and stick to the rigours of the home-and-away season.

Collingwood had looked shaky but then it started winning. Seven in a row, in fact. Malthouse looked strong but then two senior coaching positions became available and the prospect of losing Buckley to North, in particular, became a reality.

It should be crazy to even suggest this given Malthouse's record but, having been thrashed by a resurgent Hawthorn last weekend, tomorrow night's encounter has significantly more than four points riding on it. If the club does not know whether Malthouse is its man, then it is kidding itself.

The Malthouse-Buckley alliance cannot work. Malthouse, for one, knows it. Imagine how untenable Malthouse's position would be next season if the Magpies were sitting at 3-5 with Bucks alongside him in the coach's box. Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert has refused to confirm suggestions a new two-year deal has been put to the senior coach involving a "Kirribilli agreement" with his former captain and hopefully such rumours are just that.

The choice for Buckley at present appears to rest between Collingwood, as an assistant to Malthouse, or the senior position at North. Richmond, by virtue of the timing of its process, appears a longshot. Buckley has stated often that he does not want his prospects dragged out and scrutinised, and yet such a scenario would be inevitable however strong Buckley's silence remains.

Malthouse admirers cannot understand why Richmond does not embark upon a snatch-and-grab campaign tomorrow to sign him to a longer deal than the Magpies are considering.

And Collingwood? Yesterday's media conference involving Victoria Park was overshadowed by Buckley. Gavin Brown's future position as VFL coach has been publicly questioned because of Buckley. He is hovering over tomorrow night's game. The Magpies, too, insist they have a process but surely it is hurting its prospects of success in 2009.

Malthouse fought for years to stop his club from being a one-man team but the spectre of Buckley and his future is standing in the way of any progress the prospective top-four team can hope to make until someone — either the Magpies or Buckley — makes a decision.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/madpies/2009/07/22/1247941961690.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[one-eyed]

Nathan Buckley firms as next Collingwood assistant
Mike Sheahan | July 23, 2009

AS AWKWARD as it could be, Michael Malthouse and Nathan Buckley are increasingly likely to work together again at Collingwood next year. It is understood they have come to an in-principle arrangement with the club for Malthouse to continue as senior coach, with Buckley his senior assistant.

It is believed they are acceptable to a handover of responsibilities at the end of 2011, when Buckley would become senior coach.

Or along the way in any dramatic shift in circumstances.

Such a deal would end North Melbourne's bold bid to land the Collingwood champion as its new coach with a four-year offer worth as much as $2.8 million.

While North remains committed to the task and positive, its optimism seems to have waned in recent days.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, who said last night he had nothing to offer, has been trying to engineer a Malthouse-Buckley partnership for several weeks.

He knows Malthouse is at the top of his game, yet he doesn't want to be the man in charge at the time the Magpies "lost" their greatest player.

Malthouse and Buckley, who aren't as close as they were as coach and captain, met on Monday to discuss the situation.

While the veteran coach is frustrated and angry with the long delay on his future, he is understood to be far more upset with the process than Buckley.

The delay has been caused by a push from people of influence for Buckley to coach in his own right, and McGuire's determination to orchestrate an orderly succession plan.

McGuire and Co also will have considered the prospect of an uprising among the membership if Buckley were to go to North (for four years) and Collingwood promptly fell apart this year and finished anywhere from sixth to eighth.

The anti-Malthouse faction will be waiting to see what happens tomorrow night and in the next fortnight.

A loss to Carlton wouldn't be well received for more than the obvious reason, but Malthouse's fate surely can't be a weekly issue.

He has his team fourth on the ladder after 16 rounds and his players playing for him.

While there's still plenty of earnest discussion to be had before any deal is finalised, it seems the major hurdle has been cleared.

There was a rumour yesterday Buckley might coach the club's VFL team to stuff his education, but that seems highly improbable.

There's also a suggestion he could continue in a media role while an assistant coach. That, too, seems equally improbable. Particularly with Malthouse as his boss.

Lots of peripheral matters still to be finalised, but McGuire might yet achieve what he sees as the best of both worlds.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25822015-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Mick Malthouse and Nathan Buckley meet in city
Damian Barrett and Glenn McFarlane | July 23, 2009

MICK Malthouse and Nathan Buckley met on Monday in an attempt to consider a coaching future together at Collingwood. The meeting, at an inner-city location, was said to be lengthy and amicable.

The Malthouse-Buckley meeting was the first serious contact the two had had in months and came as North Melbourne awaits an answer from Buckley on whether he wants its senior coaching job.

North has effectively offered its job to the 2003 Brownlow medallist and wants to know from him by the middle of next week, when its board meets to thrash out the coaching appointment.

Collingwood has presented to Malthouse and Buckley a proposal in which they would work as coach and assistant coach for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

Related LinksPies job: Buckley firms as Malthouse assistant
It is possible the deal would include Buckley coaching Collingwood's VFL team.

Formalising a Malthouse-Buckley arrangement still requires an enormous amount of work from the Magpies, as the two have long had reservations about working together in such capacity.

It also requires Malthouse, in his 26th consecutive year as a VFL/AFL coach, to place a ceiling on his time at Collingwood, regardless of the Magpies' performances this year and in the next two years.

As reported in the Herald Sun last week, Malthouse is growing increasingly irritated with the Collingwood board dragging out negotiations on his future.

Before the weekend's loss to Hawthorn, Malthouse had taken Collingwood to seven straight wins and into a strong position to qualify for a double chance in the finals.

Two weeks ago, minutes before his side's best win of the year - a one-point victory against the Western Bulldogs - Malthouse said the club's failure to sort out his future was badly affecting his family.

Should Buckley ask North for more time to decide, or even if he simply says "no", the Roos will continue to consider him as part of their mix for next year and beyond, but only among other candidates unearthed in a full-scale search.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire remains confident of pulling off the Malthouse-Buckley double act.

McGuire told a top-tier members' forum last week the club's pending decision would "set the club up for the future".

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25822017-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Micky admitted today that Collingwood set up the Monday meeting between him and Bucks. Micky not a happy camper atm.

[3rogerd]

let them implode as we follow our PROCESS.