Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury believes that Nathan Buckley is coaching as well now as he ever has in his career.
Buckley’s coaching has come under increasing scrutiny after the winless start the season, but the Magpie captain has told SEN’s The Run Home that the club’s coaching group isn’t to blame.
“Its business as usual for ‘Bucks’ and the whole group, to be honest,” he said.
“In the last 12 months – especially the last six months, he’s coaching as well as he’s ever coached across his whole career.
“With AFL so much gets looked into numbers and data and statistics, you can really spin a story anyway you want it.
“All we want as players is to be position to win games of footy, and I feel like Bucks and his coaching staff have done that for us for the first two rounds – they’ve put us in positions to win both games of footy, and as players we haven’t gotten the job done.”
Collingwood has the daunting task of heading to Sydney to tackle the Swans on Friday night, who themselves are also off to an 0-2 start to the season.
Pendlebury said that there is no extra pressure on their shoulders to break their duck.
“It’s funny when to talk about pressure and sport because every week we are under immense pressure because it’s a competitive game,” he said.
“There is so many people at our football club that are invested in the result this weekend.
“We do live that week-to-week lifestyle … when we win, we all celebrate together, and when we lose, we all commiserate together.”