Buckley was enthusiastic about the progress made by Dayne Beams as he seeks to overcome a persistent quad injury.
Last year's Copeland Trophy winner has not been sighted since the NAB Cup but the club hopes he will make his long-awaited return in the coming weeks.
"He had a breakthrough in the last couple of weeks," Buckley said.
"In the last month he has been able to come on in leaps and bounds. He won't play this week but if he gets through the next week of training he could play in the VFL the next week."
There was also good news for Clinton Young. According to Buckley, the ex-Hawk, who played 60 per cent of his VFL return against Coburg before the bye, will be seeking to play a full four quarters this week and contend for selection in the following weeks.
Buckley was full of praise for this week's opponent Port Adelaide. After 13 rounds, the Power has won seven games, which is more than it had won in the past two seasons.
He highlighted Port's ability to get a defensive contribution from all 22 players and said that they had beaten the side that Buckley and fellow senior coaches Ross Lyon and Alistair Clarkson believe is the competition's benchmark.
As Buckley said, a young side with run in its legs is hard to beat, meaning that Collingwood will have its hands full when it travels to AAMI Stadium on Saturday.
Praise for Port, @beama17 not too far away & improving our defensive pressure. @ncb_cfc was across it all this arvo pic.twitter.com/OL602lo1gT
— Collingwood FC (@CollingwoodFC) June 26, 2013