Pendlebury says players had urged Buckley to be tougher on them. . Photo: Getty Images
Collingwood's players as much as coach Nathan Buckley revived the team's season because it was the players, not Buckley, who needed to "put more skin in the game", captain Scott Pendlebury said.
Pendlebury launched a passionate defence of his coach, saying Buckley's high profile as a player meant the focus on him as coach was over the top.
Confronting public assumptions that Buckley would be a tough and brutally direct coach, Pendlebury said that in frank meetings after the Carlton loss in round seven earlier this month the players had urged Buckley and all the coaches and leaders to be tougher on them.
"We said it is not happening, whatever we are doing is not working so let's call a spade a spade and if guys need to be whacked they get whacked, if they need to be wrapped up they get wrapped up for doing the right things we want to reward," Pendlebury said.
"I think today's footy it is a delicate balance of do you put your arm around or do you go whack? No matter how nice or how hard you are, nothing hurts more than match day when blokes continually won't do the things that have been asked so we can be as nice and connected as we want. But if we are not doing it on match day that is as honest feedback as you can get.
"Bucks was really good after the Carlton game, I think it was just being harder on us, the leaders as well driving us to pick up the intensity. Everyone has gone up 10per cent around the club in work rate, attention to detail. You can take for granted everyone is doing things.
"That is where we turned our season around, tipping in the hard work. Defensively we have been much better: the last two weeks we have conceded 70 points on average against Geelong and Brisbane."
Pendlebury said the focus on Buckley was always high but the pressure on him this year after the loss to West Coast and then the Carlton defeat was excessive.
"I can understand because Bucks was such a big figure when he played. And now he is coach if we play well Bucks has done it and if we played poorly Bucks has done it," Pendlebury said.
"It is not about Bucks, it is about the players. He gives us the blueprint for how to play but then we have to go out and do it. He can tell us where to stand but he can't tell us how hard to run, he can't push you out there.
"That has been the biggest turnaround the last two weeks. Structurally we haven't done anything different it's just that we are working a lot harder for each other on the ground.
"I feel like the pressure on him is over the top at times but he never lets it show behind closed doors in here with us."
Pendlebury admitted his move to the half back line for most of the early rounds was so that he could manage broken ribs, which were now healed, but the team also battled for onfield leadership for a period with designated leaders Steele Sidebottom suspended, Taylor Adams injured and Nathan Brown and Brent Macaffer in the VFL.
He said the team had also confronted ideas that injuries were an excuse or youth an alibi.
"Just because we are young let's not buy into this we have to rebuild and stuff. On the weekend, we had seven or eight guys under 50 games but they clearly showed they can toe the line and play, so let's not give them an out for age and the same with the senior guys, let's not give them an out because I trust him if he has done it before. No, if he hasn't done it on the weekend, then he's not doing it for you now. We all decided to put a bit more skin in the game."
Collingwood's injuries were long, but Pendlebury said Hawthorn was the exemplar of ignoring the names and worrying about the role.
"Look at Clarkson with Hawthorn last year. They were smashed with injuries and it was just 'next one up, next one up'. Early this year they have had Roughy out, Mitchell missed a game, Gibson missed games, Hodge out and they just find a way. Everyone talks about having numbers on a list, well when your number is called you have to be ready to go."
