Nathan Buckley under greater pressure than Damien Hardwick, writes Jake NiallJake Niall
Foxsports
19 April 2016IN the post-season of 2015 and again a few weeks ago, the question was posed of whether Adam Treloar had made the right call in picking Collingwood over Richmond — a question that can only be answered, like Chris Judd’s choice of Carlton over Collingwood, several years after the fateful decision.
Today, the comparison between these fiercely tribal clubs is not about who’s faring better, but which is worse. They are, despite Port Adelaide’s struggles, the most disappointing teams of the opening four rounds.
Then there’s the related situations of the coaches, Nathan Buckley and Damien Hardwick, who both received contract extensions just before the season.
As it stands today — and it can change quickly — Buckley deserves to be scrutinised more heavily than Hardwick and appears to be deeper in quicksand.
That said, the regime at Collingwood also is heavily invested in Buckley and that will probably buy him more time than a coach in his position would otherwise be afforded.
To sack Buckley would rebound on the Eddie McGuire administration which installed him in the contentious succession scheme. Alternatively, no coach survives for long when there is vast gap between expectation and performance.
Hardwick’s position is bolstered somewhat by the additional year he received in his contract extension and the fact that, unlike Bucks, he inherited a terrible team and brought steady incremental progress, culminating in three (highly unsuccessful) finals appearances.
Richmond’s failures are largely about personnel and the lengthy tail end on its playing list, though there may also be deficits in game style. Collingwood’s woes are due to a mixture of personnel, system and on-field leadership.
Hardwick’s game style in 2015 — which involved playing slower, with more deliberation than most teams — helped the Tigers to win 15 games with a squad that lacks in the following: ruck, strong midfield bodies, class behind the ball, small forwards and overall depth.
But if Hardwick did well to make finals three years on the trot with his squad, the game style hasn’t held up in September.
What is happening to Richmond is redolent of 2014; then, as now, Brett Deledio was injured for a stretch (along with Alex Rance) and without him there’s been a dramatic decline. In terms of leadership, Trent Cotchin has been unfairly scapegoated, when the real problem is the absence of support for the skipper.
No club relies more heavily on half a dozen or so players than the Tigers, who’ve been over-dependent, too, upon the productivity of top 20 draft picks; there is nary a second, third round, late pick or rookie lister at Tigerland — excepting Shane Edwards in 2006 — who’ve been major successes.
The top players — Deledio, Cotchin, Rance (pick 18), Dustin Martin and Jack Riewoldt — were all early selections.
In the tale of two teams, the Tigers have more medium term list problems, because they don’t have an obvious Darcy Moore or Treloar; conversely, not landing Treloar means they DID retain first round picks last year and in 2016 — when their choice, and Collingwood’s, look like being earlier than both clubs counted on.
It is never easy to measure how much of a team’s performance is attributable to personnel and what share can be allotted to coaching. In Buckley’s case, one seems to be compounding the other: the Pies don’t kick the ball well (personnel), which creates pressure on their ability to execute their revised game style.
In defensive positioning, there’s been an almost total breakdown — for which the coaches must carry the can.
In contrast to Hardwick, Buckley has made some tough calls on players, in the hope of regenerating and expediting a mid-table rebuild; alas, some picks haven’t panned out — the loss/injuries to Matthew Scharenberg and Nathan Freeman from top 10 picks have been calamitous — and the mature replacements (eg Jesse White) haven’t measured up.
Specifically, Collingwood a) doesn’t kick well, b) has long relied excessively on contested ball and defensive pressure and c) in seeking to improve ball movement — the goal of most clubs — have lost defensive bearings. The Pies seem to lack balance — if they improve in the contest (St Kilda), they lose defensive pressure. When tackling pressure is up (Melbourne), the contested ball drops off (fatally, early v Demons).
It is noteworthy that Collingwood has not picked up any assistant coach with Hawthorn’s intellectual property, the Hawks having lent their IP to the Bulldogs, West Coast, the Giants and now Carlton. The Demons, meanwhile, have indirectly gained a sliver of that IP from Craig Jennings, who crossed from the Dogs this year.
Buckley also has offloaded plenty of players, some of whom — Heath Shaw in particular — were seen as troublesome (full disclosure — Shaw is managed by my brother Ben). While most of these calls were justified and admirably long-term, the Pies largely denuded themselves of maturity in the process.
The Pies, too, lack for on-field leadership. Scott Pendlebury is an echo of Cotchin in that he does not have a stellar supporting cast in his leadership group. Ray McLean’s Leading Teams, successful at Sydney, Hawthorn and Geelong, wouldn’t be boasting of its Collingwood association today.
After the loss to Adelaide, Hardwick talked about the possibility that the Tigers might have to take a step back to take two steps forward.
The Pies, as it happens. have attempted something along those lines in their rebuild under Buckley. Alas for Bucks, in stepping down the ladder, they’ve lost balance and stumbled.
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