The reality of hub life couldn’t have been more apparent for Nathan Buckley on Friday. 

The Collingwood coach spent Friday morning on the phone homeschooling with his son before jumping onto his weekly press conference via zoom.

“I’ve just done 45 minutes of Year six maths so I’m a bit fried,” Buckley told the media during Friday’s press conference.

“I tried to sit down with Ayce for 15 minutes on a FaceTime call to step him through a fractions equation.”

With the hub period extended until the end of season, Buckley said that while the Magpies seem to be handling the situation quite well, he admitted that it is still a challenge.

“We’re all going through that process of where do you need to be right now,” Buckley said. 

“We’re really good at finding the positive and the opportunity in our circumstances at the worst of times.

“But you can’t ignore the challenge and the discomfort that is caused when you’re away from your family and some of our staff and players will feel that more keenly than others due to different circumstances.” 

He said that the group continues to remain optimistic about the next phase of games that await the Magpies in Queensland.

“This period has an end date and a lot of our people will be back with their families if they chose to have them up there [Queensland hub] in the next couple of weeks.

“That’s another reason of why we are making those sacrifices and that is to succeed on the football field and to enjoy what we’re doing in the process.”

Looking towards the Magpies round eight match on Sunday, Buckley commended West Coast’s ability to consistently perform.

“The 2018 premiership that they got over us builds a bit of a rivalry. We’ve got great respect for them and how they go about it.

“They’ve been consistent over a number of years and I’ve got a lot of respect for Adam Simpson.

“We’ve got a task ahead of us on Sunday.” 

Buckley also mentioned that the weekly practice matches have played a crucial role in maintaining the match fitness of players and has ultimately helped get 41 of the Magpies players on the training track.   

“Mason Cox will be one of 17 or 18 to play a practice match on Sunday afternoon after the AFL match.”

“It’ll be 16v16 match practice again. The boys who have been playing those games have been excellent.”

Buckley said the key to maintaining the Magpies form will be the use of depth within the list.

“We’ve raided our capacity to prepare our players to play AFL footy when called upon. Over the last two or three years we've seen our young players asked to step up seemingly before their time on occasions and play important roles for us.”

“That’s more prevalent and more a reality in the current paradigm than it ever has been.”