Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has offered a ringing endorsement of skipper Nick Maxwell, using a brutally frank assessment of his own experience as Magpie skipper to illustrate why.

Maxwell was appointed last month to lead Collingwood for the fifth straight year, with Buckley saying that the days of the skipper automatically being the best player are long gone.

"I was in that position in 1999 and it was a mistake at the time," Buckley told SEN on Thursday, citing Gavin Brown, Damian Monkhorst and Gavin Crosisca as three Magpies of the time who were more deserving of the leadership.

"You need to have empathy at times but I had tunnel vision," he said. "Being captain didn't sit uncomfortably with me, but it was clearly wrong.

"I was nowhere near leader and the decisions you make for leadership are crucial because they set up the way the group moderates."

When asked what made Maxwell such an ideal leader, Buckley was quick to answer. "He has the most influence on the playing group in a positive sense."

Buckley added that vice-captains Scott Pendlebury and Luke Ball could step in as excellent captains if Maxwell was unavailable, and said new leadership group member Dayne Beams had benefited from having made the right decisions with his preparation and general approach to the game.

Meanwhile, Buckley admitted he had tinkered with the Pies' game-plan over the summer, but would not be drawn fully on whether a feature of Collingwood in 2013 would be short, sharp ball movement down the centre corridor.

"Our main aim is to move the ball efficiently and effectively, and you have to move it quickly so you don't get put on your heels all that often," he said.

"You need to change because defensive strategies in football are always changing, but you look at the group you have and what their capabilities are and what you can do with that."