Collingwood senior coach Nathan Buckley is well known as a man who demands a lot of himself and whoever ran onto the field with him as a player.
As a young boy living in Darwin he was taught the basics of football in a similar fashion by his father, which undoubtedly helped him become one of the game’s greats.
“Yeah it definitely stiffened me up and there is no doubt I rebelled against that, for a period I nearly gave up footy for a couple of years there,” said Buckley on SEN radio.
“I suppose with my experiences now as a coach you want to exert enough pressure on people or expectations to allow them to grow and have them realise what they’re capable of.
“You can go too hard with that, and you can not go hard enough.”
Buckley had clear intentions on playing league football in Melbourne on the big stage but was forced to play for a year up north when Brisbane drafted him with a zone selection.
Following a move to Collingwood he would go on to captain the Magpies, win a Brownlow Medal and earn seven All-Australian nominations.
“Yeah I’m not sure if I know all the ins and outs of what happened around that time,” said Buckley of his time at the Bears.
“Even though I was 20 at the end of ’92 there was machinations going on around the place that I wasn’t at all privy to, I just wanted to play footy.
“Just to play for Brisbane in that season and under a guy like Robert Walls who I learnt so much from, was a blessing in disguise.
“The pressure at Collingwood was inevitable but you are hidden away from that up in Brisbane and I definitely got perspective (on how big the game is down south).”