Nathan Buckley has credited the work done by his coaching staff and the blend of his playing group as key reasons behind Collingwood’s bright start to the 2018 season.

The Magpies are flying this year, part of a logjam of teams with eight wins in the top half of the ladder. This time in 2017, the team had five wins and was languishing in 13th position.

Buckley said the current coaching group was working well together, and a more experienced playing group was helping its rise up the ladder.

“There's no doubt you learn on the job and you learn as you go along. I find now, the group we have at the moment has a good chemistry around how we go about it,” he said.

“There's a lot of questioning, there's a lot of toing and froing, 'is there a better way?', two or three per cent here where we can improve.

“We put that in our training, we put it to our playing group, then we explore whether we can be better.

“That's not just this year, it has been over the last couple of years. Things take time and we've got a bit of work to do, but we're in decent shape.”

While the team is settled and playing eye-catching football, interest has surrounded the playing futures of out-of-contract pair Jordan De Goey and Darcy Moore.

Buckley told 7mate's Talking Footy he is confident De Goey will continue to enjoy playing his footy at Collingwood.

“Jordy's been first-class. He's wedded to the playing group, and the leaders in particular have stepped him through the last few years of his career, have really helped him on and off the field.

“There's a really tight bond between him and the playing group.”



Jordan De Goey is enjoying the best form of his short career in 2018.

On Moore, Buckley said the key position player was annoyed to be on the sidelines rehabilitating his hamstring injury, but the club was not planning for him to be elsewhere next year.

“We haven't looked at any potential that he's not.

“When 'Darce' is injured and not playing, it's not a nice place to be at the best of times.

“When the side is winning, it adds a bit of a niggle the other way, you want to be a part of it and you want to be of worth. He's a driven young man who wants to have as much influence as he can, so he's quite frustrated."