Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has zero issues with Steven May’s best and fairest comments saying Melbourne should have “smoked” the Pies.
Speaking openly at the club’s awards night, May said the Dees were a better team than the Magpies and outlined how badly it hurt to be sitting on the sidelines watching them win the Grand Final.
The comments have gained traction quickly since, with many criticising the veteran defender.
However Buckley, a great of the Collingwood Football Club, has no issues with the comments.
“I don’t have a problem with it at all,” Buckley told SEN Mornings.
“We sit here on this side and we say ‘why don’t they tell us what they really think’ and then when someone says what they really think, we criticise the dead-headedness of considering where this could possibly go.
“Every top four team that hasn’t got to the Grand Final … you’re looking at it going ‘what if’ and there’s plenty of little moments that make a lot of difference.
“Collingwood won three finals by 12 points. They weren’t far-and-away the best team in the competition in finals, but they are the premiers for the year.
“Melbourne had their bona fides, Brisbane did, but to make that comment, it’s an inner sanctum comment that gets on the outside, but the context isn’t lost.”
Do the comments from May speak to larger issues at the Demons? Buckley doesn’t believe so.
“He’s saying they should have – but they didn’t (smoke Collingwood),” Buckley said.
“He’s putting it on them. He’s not putting it on everyone else. We can’t listen to a comment without knowing the context. The context is that he’s at his own B&F talking to his own people. It’s going out to them.
“The only concern I would have is that there’s a loser’s mentality of making these statements after the fact – but they won a flag two years ago and they do have a solid list and they have the chance to go forward.
“He’s a leader at the club and he now has the chance to do something about those comments.
“So how does he handle the off-season? What sort of drive does he bring to their next campaign? That’s all that matters.”