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Nathan Buckley under fire after Collingwood’s ‘really bad’ Anzac Day loss

A decision on Nathan Buckley's future is not far away.

A decision on Nathan Buckley's future is not far away. Photo: Getty

The pressure on Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley is set to intensify after his side’s “big holes” were exposed in the AFL’s annual Anzac Day clash.

The Magpies slumped to their fourth loss in five matches this season as a Joe Daniher-inspired Essendon posted a 15.10 (100) to 11.16 (82) victory in front of 87,685 fans at the MCG.

Under Buckley, Collingwood have failed to make the finals in each of their past three seasons, and the 44-year-old was asked on SEN last year if he could see himself in charge of the Magpies if it happened again, famously responding: “There’s no way.”

With a 1-4 win-loss record and a clash against the undefeated Geelong to come on Sunday, off a five-day break, another defeat seems likely, and two-time premiership winner David King said the challenge for Collingwood now is to manage the club icon’s exit in the right way.

“There’s always a game where you put a line through a coach,” King said on Fox Footy.

“I just wonder whether today is that game … it’s a really bad loss.

“Nathan’s been there for six seasons … finals are gone.

“I just think from now, it’s going to be about managing the exit of Nathan Buckley. That’s the simple facts of football.

“If you don’t produce after that period of tenure, then the acid comes.”

Collingwood led for less than a minute on Tuesday, thanks to a three-goal burst in the third term, but they had no answers for the Bombers when it mattered, as Daniher (three goals and eight marks) took home the Anzac Day Medal for best afield.

Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall believes Buckley’s time is running out and queried his radio comments last year.

“They’ve got big holes at both ends of the ground,” Dunstall said on Fox Footy.

“I think something will give at the end of the year and I think it’s going to be an easier process because of what Nathan said last year.

“I’m really curious about the fact Nathan Buckley last year basically put his own head on the block. I’m wondering what the motive for that was.”

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Joe Daniher celebrates one of his goals. Photo: Getty

Former Essendon great Matthew Lloyd added on Footy Classified: “They just can’t score. Everything’s hard work … they’re just not skilful enough.”

‘We’re not far off’

While Adam Treloar (39 disposals, 11 tackles) and Daniel Wells (24 disposals, two goals) impressed for Collingwood, it was left to too few, something Buckley bemoaned afterwards.

“We’re not far off but we’re a mile off and that’s the game at the elite level,” he said at his post-match press conference.

“We rely really heavily on our leaders – ‘Pendles’ [Scott Pendlebury], Tay Adams and Steele [Sidebottom] – and they were relatively quiet today.

“There’s a little bit of frustration because we feel like there’s some hard work being done and there’s a lot that we are getting right.”

Buckley said there was “not a lot of time for feeling” because of the quick turnaround ahead of the Geelong game.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves off and get going pretty quickly,” he added.

He was also asked whether he had a handle on how to fix Collingwood’s issues, to which he emphatically responded: “Absolutely!”

The Anzac Day clash wrapped up an action-packed Round 5, headlined by Richmond’s come-from-behind win over Melbourne on Monday evening that saw the Tigers remain undefeated in 2017.

Geelong and Adelaide are the other sides yet to lose this year, comfortably beating St Kilda and Gold Coast by 38 and 67 points respectively over the weekend.

In other results, Hawthorn bounced back from two weeks of bad headlines with a 50-point thrashing of West Coast, while North Melbourne’s run of heartbreaking losses continued when a last-minute Shane Kersten goal gave Fremantle a five-point win at Domain Stadium.

Elsewhere, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs and Greater Western Sydney posted victories.

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