In many ways, that’s in keeping with the way McHale is still seen by some at Collingwood more than 60 years after his last game as coach. Without being sacrilegious, he is still viewed almost as if he was a God-like figure, bearing arguably most famous name from the most famous football club in the country.
Buckley’s name has been one of the most revered at Collingwood over the past generation as one of the greatest players of the modern-era. Now he is now looking to enhance that in the coaches’ box, having taken over the senior role this season.
The fact that Buckley’s elevation as coach in 2012 comes exactly a century on from McHale first year coaching the club is simply a quirk of timing.
It certainly doesn’t guarantee anywhere near the unprecedented success or longevity that McHale enjoyed in his 38 seasons and eight premierships as coach of the Magpies. But it is timely to point out a few career parallels than McHale and Buckley have had.
Both were born outside the state in which they made their football impact, and shifted around often in their early years to suit their father’s employment.
Jock McHale was born in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria on December 12, 1882. He lived the first five-and-a-half years of his life in New South Wales wherever his policeman-father was stationed - first in the heart of Sydney, then later in Coonabarabran and Warialda.
Finally, when McHale’s father resigned from the NSW police force and came to Melbourne for a position with the Victorian Railways, young Jock (who was then called by his Christian name James) finally got to settle in Coburg, and to discover the game of Australian football that would change his life.
Buckley, who was born in Adelaide on July 26, 1972, never had any issues of not knowing the game. His father, Ray, indoctrinated him at an early age, which is something that can’t be said of McHale’s Irish-born father John.
As Buckley recalled in his autobiography, All I Can Be, “Dad was a real-estate valuer by trade and a football coach in his spare time. He’d get itchy feet if we stayed in one place for too long, so he often relocated in his job and combined that with coaching positions wherever he went - Adelaide, Darwin, Mount Gambier, Brisbane and Canberra.”
McHale and Buckley were both 20 when they made their league debuts; though their pathways were exceedingly different when they played their first games in 1903 and 1993 respectively. And Buckley’s first game was also with a different club.
McHale came to Collingwood from Coburg in the VFA, and was once rejected by the Magpies before turning his dedication and determination into his greatest asset. Buckley had reluctantly played with Brisbane for a season - originally recruited from Port Adelaide in the SANFL - before becoming one of the most anticipated recruits in Collingwood’s history in 1994.
McHale played 261 games for Collingwood; Buckley played 260 for Collingwood, though he had played a further 20 games with Brisbane.
The pair could so easily both been anchored on 260 games as the retired McHale was a last-minute inclusion for a Round 1 game in 1920 after one of the players failed to turn up in time for the match against Essendon. He had not played a game in almost two years, with the Australasian newspaper saying: “The veteran, who has been coaching Collingwood for years, deserves every credit for his prompt assistance in filling the gap, though youth outpaced and outplayed him.”
McHale and Buckley were very different players; though their commitment to training, to being in the peak of condition and to making the absolute best of their opportunities and talents made them stand apart from many of their contemporaries.
McHale was predominately a centre-man, though he spent some time in defence. Not especially a great kick, but with a fierce competitiveness and dogged determination, he was probably a better footballer than history records, but he was hardly as dynamic, dominant or dazzling as Brownlow medallist Buckley.
One significant difference was the fact that McHale played in two premierships (1910 as a player and 1917 as a playing coach), whereas Buckley played in two losing Grand Finals in 2002-03, albeit with a Norm Smith Medal to his name in the first one.
The elevation of both men as Collingwood coach came 100 years apart; though again there are some similar points to be made.
Last Friday marked the century of McHale’s first game as coach on April 27, 1912. He was playing coach of Collingwood at the time; while many Magpie fans have wistfully wished that Buckley could have done the same.
In 1912 Collingwood endured a slow start to the season as the new coach came to grips with his role, lost his first three games which brought out more than few critics, and oversaw a long injury list that contributed to the early losses.
The Magpies lost their first game, too, in 2012; indeed two of their first three matches. And Buckley was also forced to deal with a series of injuries, though the club has rallied to be in a much better position now, sitting 3-2 after five games. McHale was 2-3 after his first five games as coach.
In both instances, the new coach came to the job after the team had lost the previous year’s Grand Final (1911 and 2011) following on from premiership success the previous year (1910 and 2010).
McHale was the subject to much criticism in his first three weeks as coach. Having lost to Melbourne, Essendon and St Kilda, the club was under pressure.
The Football Record documented: “The defeat on Saturday (against St Kilda) has brought out a section of so-called supporters who are blaming the management and hinting at ‘reform’. It is a very poor sportsman who in a time of reserve does not remember with some sense of gratitude the fine work done in the past by men who had brought the club up to the proud position that it has held since foundation.”
The Herald agreed: “Fair-weathered barrackers ... are wowsers. They are the curse of every club, for if a team is not consistently successful they attack the management and they seize a chance of bringing themselves into the light as reformers.”
Injuries played a key part in McHale’s tough initiation to coaching. In 1912 the Magpies suffered a spate of serious injuries, with the most serious being a shocking broken leg to Jim Sharp. Sharp (who would later play one final game while club president in 1917) was the great-grandfather of one of Buckley’s 2012 players, Paul Seedsman.
Buckley’s first season as coach has also been a challenging one in terms of injuries, with three players undergoing knee reconstruction - Luke Ball, Andrew Krakouer and Brent Macaffer.
McHale’s first win as a coach - it would turn out to be the first of 467 wins from 714 games as Collingwood coach - came a month into the season, after a thrilling game against Carlton at Princes Park. It wasn’t until the coach had returned to the dressing rooms that he realised Collingwood had actually won by a point when the scoreboard had recorded a draw.
The Argus explained: “It was only after the majority had left the ground well satisfied with a drawn game that it was officially announced that Collingwood had won by a point.” An error on the scoreboard had been made when Carlton was wrongly credited with an extra point in the second term.
Buckley wouldn’t win his first game by a point; it would come against Richmond in Round 2 by 21 points. But his third win as coach would be a game decided by one point - the classic Anzac Day game against Essendon, which fittingly came two days before the 100th anniversary date of McHale’s first game as coach.
Buckley will doubtlessly fare better than McHale in terms of their debut seasons. While the club’s Team of the Century coach coached missed the finals in his first season in 1912, Buckley’s 2012 team appears certain to play finals football this season, and hopefully challenge for the premiership.
But not even the most optimistic black and white fan would ever dare to suggest that Buckley - or anyone else for that matter - could hope to challenge McHale’s peerless coaching record.
Glenn McFarlane is a journalist with the Herald Sun and is the author of Jock, the biography of Jock McHale.
