Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley discusses Port Adelaide’s entry to the AFL and how close he was to returning to Alberton

Nathan Buckley had already left the Brisbane Bears for Collingwood and a few years later, his old SANFL side joined the national competition. The 2003 Brownlow Medallist recalls his chats with those at Port Adelaide before its entry.

Simeon Thomas-Wilson

@Simeon_TW

2 min read

April 17, 2020 - 11:51AM

Nathan Buckley found out he was in Port Adelaide’s 150 Greatest Players list when he rang Geof Motley out of the blue (AAP Image/Michael Dodge)

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He produced one of the greatest individual seasons by a Port Adelaide player in the SANFL.

So how close did Nathan Buckley come to returning to Port when it entered the AFL?

According to the current Collingwood coach himself, his former club had a crack at trying to lure him back to Adelaide, and while it was a “consideration” it wasn’t a serious one for Port Adelaide’s 1992 premiership star and Magarey Medallist.

Speaking exclusively with The Advertiser in a week where he should have been preparing his Collingwood side to take on Port Adelaide at the MCG, Buckley said his desire to stay in Melbourne after moving around a lot as a youngster and early on in his career meant while many thought he was off to his former side, they were mistaken.

“I had conversations with Port during that period, so there was no doubt that convos were happening,” Buckley told The Advertiser.

“But after moving from school to Adelaide for three years and to Brisbane for a year and then down to Melbourne for three years I felt like I only just settled again.

Buckley holding the SANFL Premiership trophy after his amazing year in 1992.

“I had moved around a lot as a kid, and I was loving Collingwood and I felt like Melbourne was going to be home.”

That’s not to say Port didn’t have a red hot crack, with Buckley a marquee target for the Power’s first AFL season.

“I’ve always had great respect for Port Adelaide and obviously indebted to them for the growth and experience I had there in ‘91 and ‘92 and in particular Jack Cahill and those senior players in that ‘92 side,” he said.

“So I’ve always held the club in high esteem and that was a reason why it was a consideration for a discussion, but it wasn’t any serious consideration.

“My instincts were that when I didn’t go, (Gavin) Wanganeen was the one courted really heavily, I was hearing rumours of McDonalds franchises and all that and I hadn’t heard anything.

“There was a bit of money that was being thrown around, Port weren’t going to tread quietly, they never had a history of just making up the numbers so they were always going to go hard.”

Instead, Buckley became Collingwood captain in 1999, holding the position until 2007.

In one of the great careers in modern AFL, he won a Brownlow Medal in 2003, was a seven-time All-Australian and won a Norm Smith Medal in 2002 despite being on the losing side against the Brisbane Lions.

Originally published as Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley discusses Port Adelaide’s entry to the AFL and how close he was to returning to Alberton