Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley claims he is unsure about what will be declared a pass mark to extend his tenure at the AFL club.
One of the most prominent figures in the Magpies’ history, Buckley is out-of-contract at season’s end after 10 years coaching the club.
After three straight finals campaigns, Collingwood have slumped to 1-4 with a growing injury list and without the depth of previous years.
Salary cap pressure forced the Magpies to trade out star onballer Adam Treloar, former Rising Star winner Jaidyn Stephenson and hardworking wingman Tom Phillips during a dramatic off-season fire sale.
One of Buckley’s biggest allies, Eddie McGuire, is no longer club president with Mark Korda on Wednesday night named as his replacement.
“It’s probably a chance to sort of set that record straight – Eddie doesn’t appoint the senior coach,” Buckley said on Thursday.
“I won’t be sitting down with Mark about my position. I’m pretty sure that Mark will be sitting down with (chief executive) Mark Anderson and (football boss Graham Wright) at some point to make sure the club is tracking in the right direction.
“My job is to manage the coaches, the coaching panel and to have the players in the best shape as possible. There’s some medium-term aspects in that.
“Winning’s probably the easy one (key to a new contract), I don’t need a conversation to know that.”
Despite being without stars Jordan De Goey and Jeremy Howe for the Anzac Day blockbuster against Essendon and Taylor Adams and Jamie Elliott sidelined long-term, Buckley believes the team is still capable of being a finals contender.
“The fact is we still believe we can do some damage this year, we’re not giving up on the year,” he said.
“At the same time, we do believe we’ve got enough growth in us there to be considering being better over the next two or three years as well.
“We’ve come off three consecutive finals campaigns and we don’t want that to discontinue, we’re still aiming for finals and want to be a threat in finals when it comes to the pointy end.
“You’re always lifting your eyes and looking for better, and if that means bringing some youth in or changing roles to suit the team, we’ll do that.”
-AP
