THEY might be former coaches' box comrades and now work on adjacent ovals but Nathan Buckley and Mark Neeld don't expect their relationship to influence Monday's Melbourne-Collingwood clash at the MCG.

With both new to senior coaching and having worked with others currently in the same job including Scott Watters and Guy McKenna, it's not the first time they've faced a former colleague or coach this year.

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But still, they entertained the "interesting sub-plot" of their friendship on Friday when they fronted the media together, on neutral ground between their training grounds.

"I've had a few of them this year, as Neeldy would have. There's a lot of new coaches in the competition at the moment, and we each would be doing our jobs as best as we possibly can," Buckley said.

"Ultimately it's the players that go into combat."

Buckley remembers Neeld as a player - "a very fleet-footed, half-forward flanker who was pretty dangerous" - although recalls him being much leaner during his 74-game career.

Neeld recalls Buckley's glittering 280-game playing days, that included winning the 2003 Brownlow Medal but declined to pump up his former colleague.

"He went okay," Neeld said.

Neither of them remembered the four goals Neeld booted for Richmond against Collingwood on the Queen's Birthday in 1994.

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But despite their friendship, which was solidified by the success of the Magpies' 2010 campaign and likewise the failure of 2011, Monday is more about the Demons to Neeld than trying to draw on his intimate knowledge of the Pies.

"It's been fairly similar to most weeks. We've just given a little bit of stuff on the opposition," he said.

"We're clubs that are in two completely different phases of our development, and right now, we're focusing on the things that we need to do.

"We need to send our players out with a bit of a knowledge of how the Pies are going to go about it but my reality is a little bit different to Nathan's at the moment, so it's been far more focus on what we need to do."

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The Demons are coming off their first win for the season, with a spirited six-point win over Essendon last Saturday night.

"The last two games against Carlton and Essendon have been very impressive," Buckley said, of Melbourne's form.

"It's back to their NAB Cup form - the contested ball but then the ability to use it well and defend field position pretty well.

"Seven of the last eight quarters have been the type of footy that I'm sure that Neeldy's been trying to educate the players around, so Melbourne come into this game with a fair bit of momentum in that regard."

The Pies expect Darren Jolly, Dane Swan and Chris Tarrant to play, and Heath Shaw and Alan Toovey to resume after the bye.

Swan ran strongly at training on Friday and Tarrant is ready, after a cautious approach given he strained a calf within a quarter of his first and only game for the year in round two.

And Melbourne defender Colin Garland, fresh from his two goals against Essendon, can expect to play a similar role this week. 

"I thought Colin played his role really well and there's no doubt at times on Monday he might find himself in the forward line," Neeld said.

"Having a nine-day break, we evoked a bit of a 24-hour rule and Colin was allowed to speak about his goals for 24 hours post the game and then once that was over, we got him on the reality bus and looking towards playing against Nathan and his boys."