SEN host Tim Watson would “absolutely” consider Nathan Buckley during coaching discussions if he were Carlton.
Having led the Pies to a Grand Final in 2018, and the fact that coaches are generally better the second time around, Watson believes Buckley could be a suitable replacement for David Teague.
“Absolutely! I said this the other day, I would consider Nathan Buckley,” Watson told SEN Breakfast in response to whether he'd consider Buckley in Carlton's shoes.
“I would consider Nathan Buckley because if you have a look at his record, his record’s fine like he didn’t win a flag (but) he got a team into the Grand Final.
“Everybody acknowledges that the second time around you’re a better coach.
“For whatever reason things went off the tracks at Collingwood, but there were a lot of other things that were going on behind the scenes at Collingwood.
“Now, he wasn’t in charge of the salary cap, he wasn’t in charge of the dislocation at the football club during that period of time. How did that impact their on-field playing performance around then? So he’s got to be so much better for the experience.”
However, with Carlton’s attacking style, and Buckley’s defensive approach, the former Collingwood coach would have to prove that he could effectively combine both.
“And the other part to all that is, obviously these Carlton players know how to attack, ‘Bucks’ knows how to defend, we know that because of the defensive way Collingwood played,” Watson continued.
“Now, what has he learnt in that time in terms of being able to combine the two and have a better attacking mechanism than what he had at Collingwood for particularly the last 18 months (to) two years of his coaching there?”
Buckley led Collingwood to consectutive finals appearances between 2018 and 2020, his last full season as head coach at the club.