The Buck Stops Here.
Nathan Buckley has gone through his five biggest takeaways from the weekend of footy.
Buckley has touched on Patrick Cripps, Lance Franklin, Zac Bailey and Brayden Maynard.
Winning form is the best form
“Clearly, winning form is the best form.
“We’ve got two teams in Geelong and Collingwood that have been 11-0 in their last 11 games and are clearly out in front when it comes to sides with winning form at the moment.
“We’re talking about winning form and what context we’re putting it. We’re putting it in teams that over the next six or seven weeks are going to have the capacity to challenge and ultimately win the comp.
Geelong and Collingwood are right up there.
“The next team in the last 10 weeks that are really in the green is Sydney who have won eight of their last 10. They’re slowly building their form and some of their numbers are stacking up.
“Melbourne, on the flip side, despite Melbourne and Collingwood being so close on the weekend, they’ve only won four of their last 10 games as has Carlton.”
Cripps made a stand after Blues’ poor start
“Vossy’s (Michael Voss) attitude is that this is a competitive, physical game and we need to be competitive, physical players.
“You get the captain of a side who needs to win, who has been dominated in the early stages of that game, and Vossy would’ve been in this situation himself a lot, you need to make a stand, you need to change the flow of a contest.
“You can do it with an act of brilliance and skill, but the main way is to go harder and lower often than your opponent and win a hard ball.
“He was a captain trying to make a stand and for 10 minutes after that the Carlton side popped up and we saw some real fight, but we didn’t see it for long enough in that game against a good opposition until the last quarter.
“I reckon Patty Cripps’ actions were around leadership and trying to drive his group with a solid contest at the footy.”
Swans’ mature handling of Franklin contract
“I reckon this has been handled in a really mature manner.
“This player has contributed so much to this team that he’s earned the right to play it out and to have the decision in his own grasp to what he wants to do at the end of the year.
“I loved the way that John Longmire handled that. I love the way that Buddy played.”
Garry Lyon: “Damian Barrett called it a provocative statement. Kane Cornes said it was, ‘me, me, me’, it was a selfish and really strange decision to release that statement.”
Buckley: “That frustrates the hell out of me.
“Are we mature enough as an organization to get to the point where players say, ‘I’m actually going to be heading over here’?
“Say (Daniel) McStay is definitely going to Collingwood and Daniel McStay says, ‘Look, I’ve had a great time here at Brisbane and I’m going to Collingwood at the end of this season’ and Chris Fagan goes, ‘We ‘re aware of that, but Daniel McStay is in our best side now and he gives us the best chance of playing in a premiership this year’ and then we just move on.
“The people who are least mature to handle that situation is actually us in the media.
“The timing of the statement is in answer to the questions that have been posed through scuttlebutt over the last two or three weeks.”
Bailey’s importance to Lions’ flag hopes
“I just think its importance to the Lions cannot be understated.
“In amongst some great players, he had a fantastic game with four goals, 20 touches on the weekend.
“This kid could be, and he’s still a kid, their most important player.
“We talk about ground level top-end speed and pace, work rate, he’s got class to finish off.
“When he went off against Richmond the game totally turned.”
Magpies defend Maynard built for September
“I needed to address this.
“Brayden Maynard’s tackling and physical presence is something that every team needs going into September and the big games in finals.
“I definitely produced on Friday night against Melbourne.
“The first tackle on (Ed) Langdon off the ‘all duck, no dinner’ comments. Brayden Maynard is a physical player, he loves making a stand, he plays the game hard and tough.
“The tackle against Langdon set it up and the tackle on (Alex) Neal-Bullen late was the bookend.
“Wear his heart on his sleeve, great kid and built for September action.”
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