Over a decade on, former Collingwood players have opened up the club’s infamous – and at the time, widely scrutinised – coaching handover from Mick Malthouse to Nathan Buckley.

It comes with another coaching succession plan – though an unofficial one – potentially in motion at Port Adelaide amid rumours of a private arrangement that’ll see Josh Carr eventually take over from recently re-signed senior coach Ken Hinkley.

Such a changeover is always delicate, particularly for a club up the top of the ladder contending for a flag.

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Just ask Collingwood, who lived through a much trickier saga in the early 2010s.

Stuttering at the start of 2009 with a 3-5 record in Malthouse’s 10th season in charge, the Pies under then-president Eddie McGuire orchestrated a plan for club champion Buckley – who was drawing interest from rival teams at the time – to take over as coach in 2012 as part of a five-year deal that’d see Malthouse continue as director of coaching for three years.

However things quickly got more complicated after Collingwood went on to finish third in 2009 followed by a premiership and further grand final appearance in the next two seasons, in a successful period for the club; the most successful under Malthouse.

As a result, the decision to change the coach while the incumbent – and club as a whole – were at the peak of their powers was widely criticised, particularly given the enormity of Collingwood and high-profile names involved.

Buckley on SEN last week said there was “too much ego” involved and that it “lit a fire under the club” including an eventual messy divorce with Malthouse, who immediately departed the Pies at the end of 2011.

And though one of the biggest talking points from the footy world – and the years that followed – the players in large didn’t, and frankly couldn’t, have a big voice on the matter.

In last week reflecting on his own experience and challenges throughout the period, Buckley posed how Collingwood players at the time would’ve managed through the unique set of events.

“No one likes change and you definitely don’t like change when you feel like you’re heading in the right direction as well,” Buckley said on SEN.

“It would be really interesting to unpack that with players of the time and how they felt and how they managed that. That would’ve been a difficult position for them to be put in when you’re looking up at the leadership and some of us see this and some of us see that, it definitely wasn’t united.”

With that in mind, foxfooty.com.au spoke with 2010 premiership Magpies Luke Ball and Sharrod Wellingham to gauge their recollections of being within the four walls during one of the most fascinating periods at club land in modern AFL history.

DIFFERING CIRCUMSTANCES

As Ball described it, his own experience was truly “different and unique.”

The All-Australian had only just arrived at Collingwood at the end of 2009 in search of a fresh opportunity after eight years at St Kilda that didn’t end on ideal terms after he fell out of favour in Ross Lyon’s side.

So when the midfielder made the switch, the succession plan had already been implemented and he knew what he was signing up for.

As such, Ball was “optimistic” and even “bought into” the transition that was coming at the end of his second year at the club, holding enormous respect for both coaches.

“In my mind, it was going to be the best of both worlds,” Ball told foxfooty.com.au.

“I obviously had massive respect for Mick and he was the main reason in the end for making the tough call I did (to leave St Kilda). He convinced me a fresh start would be beneficial, I’ll always be grateful to him for that.

“I went there with eyes wide open. I played against ‘Bucks’ and had enormous respect for him as well and presumed the things that made him a champion player were going to make him a great long-term coach.

“In a sense, I was excited by it when I went to the club originally.

“I was probably optimistic in thinking: ‘This will keep going from strength to strength,’ also hoping Mick would stick around, as well.”

No matter what plans were put in place, it’s only human nature to second guess the situation when the club turned into a powerhouse of the competition under Malthouse in 2010 and 2011.

Both Ball, who played 81 of his 223 AFL games at Collingwood, and fellow gun recruit Darren Jolly played huge roles in helping the club get to another level in those years in beefing up and adding class to an already stacked midfield.

Jolly also instantly joined the club’s leadership group, while Ball followed in 2011.

Ball suggested his former team would’ve considered the potential for the coaching dynamic to get “a bit awkward” and it to be a distraction of sorts during that period.

“Was it messy? Yeah, it was. I had experienced a coaching changeover at St Kilda that was done almost overnight, so this one was at least planned,” he said.

“But I was a bit older and more battle scarred at that stage of my career. I’d come to Collingwood for a fresh start and was coming from a pretty low place personally, so I was on board with it and both men.

“Having said that, how it practically played out was messy. There was too many emotions, and as ‘Bucks’ said, egos involved. For that reason, it was probably always doomed to not play out the way it was intended.

“Ultimately with something like that — and it’s so rare — individuals involved driving it and getting everyone else on board with it is so important. In the end, that’s probably not what happened.

“Of course, the people who instigated it absolutely bleed black and white and wanted the best thing for the club, but sometimes things change.

“The only time I think a coaching handover has worked was Paul Roos to Simon Goodwin at Melbourne and Roos was the one who was driving it.

“That’s probably why, it seems, Port Adelaide isn’t committing to theirs even though there might be some conversations behind closed doors.

“Maybe that’s the way to do it and you don’t come out and make the big announcement. It gives you an opportunity to pump the brakes and steer the ship another way, if required, because so much can change in 12-18 months.”

While Ball was one of the more senior players at Collingwood in the early 2010s, Wellingham’s career was just taking off.

Only in his early 20s at the time, Wellingham, who was among the youngest players in the 2010 premiership side, noted that the coaching situation and bigger picture of the club weren’t the main focuses for him at that stage in his career.

Though the on-baller, who played 92 of his 171 AFL games in black and white before moving to West Coast, does recall it being a “little bit messy” and questioning the rationale behind the abruptness of it given how well the team was travelling.

“I don’t know (how things could’ve been handled differently) because I wasn’t in the leadership group or section of the group that knew what was going on … as a young guy I just remember going: ‘Oh jeez, where’d that come from?,” Wellingham recalled to foxfooty.com.au.

“I do remember feeling: ‘Why is this happening? Does it need to happen right away? Can the succession plan be drawn out longer?

“I think if we’d gone on and not played in two grand finals, we would’ve been like: ‘Aright, where’s the change coming from, what do we need to do?’

“But you go on and start winning games and win a premiership, it absolutely does change everything.”

THE CHALLENGES

Given the heights Collingwood reached in 2010 and 2011, there’s a view that a section of the playing group weren’t as favourable to the coaching change.

Fellow premiership Magpies Heath Shaw and Dale Thomas, who were eventually traded to GWS and Carlton respectively by the end of 2013, have even said in recent years they believed the succession plan cost the team another flag.

Ball, who retired at the end of 2014, thinks players who’d played under Malthouse for several years and alongside Buckley would’ve been more likely to struggle with such circumstances.

“It was always going to be more of a challenge and adjustment for those who’d been there a while and built such deep relationships with Mick, as it is when any club moves on a coach or tries to implement something like this,” Ball said.

“The unique part it was that a lot of these guys had played with ‘Bucks’ too. That dynamic shift between teammate to then coach is probably an interesting one I never experienced.

“You’ve got to put your trust in the club and put your faith in what the club is doing that it’s going to be the best thing.

“Again, that would’ve been more challenging for some than others.”

Buckley himself last week on SEN even admitted he tried to “pump the brakes” on the handover in 2011, but that other relationships had already been “broken.”

From that perspective, it was an impossible situation.

“I can’t remember anyone being for or against it, I just remember it being a kind of awkward feeling,” Wellingham added.

“Everyone had enormous respect for ‘Bucks’ and a lot of the guys had playing relationships with him.

“I think that may have been one of the things guys may have been a bit apprehensive about, how he was going to be an ex-player who would be coaching us pretty quickly after he finished.”

END OF AN ERA … BUT ARGUABLY THE ‘RIGHT’ CALL

Ball conceded it was “disappointing” with the way it “put a halt to a team that had a full head of steam” including the then reigning premier Pies finishing the 2011 home and away season with a 20-2 record and only losing to one team all year — Geelong.

While Collingwood still made the top four in Buckley’s first season in 2012 and reached a preliminary final, that year was, whether impacted by the succession plan or not, the beginning of a gradual decline.

“Ironically, I did my knee three weeks into Bucks’ first year and was out of action anyway,” Ball noted.

“We made a prelim, so it wasn’t like it was a fall off a cliff immediately situation, but it was just apparent we lost a bit of a head of steam.

“As Bucks said, personal egos and self interest started to take over from the subjugating of team egos that’s required to be a great team.”

Meanwhile, Wellingham pointed out that Buckley, when he first took over, was put on a “hard trajectory” and said any incoming coach wouldn’t want their team to be “going too well” when they take the reins given the heightened expectations.

Wellingham believes his former side may have felt rushed to make a decision because it was worried about losing such an iconic club figure in Buckley that meant so much to it.

“I think the club was the party most nervous about losing ‘Bucks’ to another club. They’d hate to see Nathan Buckley coaching against Collingwood,” Wellingham noted.

But ultimately, Wellingham doesn’t think it was necessarily the wrong call – just that the timing and handling of it could’ve been better.

“I think it was probably the right thing for the club to have done,” he added.

“When you’re in a successful team, you don’t want change and you want everything to continue along smoothly. But we’ve seen for clubs to improve and get better, they do have to make changes and hard decisions have to be made.

“Did the club make the right decision? Possibly, you never know, because there’s no alternative result.

“It might’ve been a little bit early for ‘Bucks’ to go into coaching, but he grew into such a great coach in a short time, so you can’t say it was the wrong decision.

“To do it in the time frame they did, while it might not have been overly comfortable at the time, it was probably the right decision to be made.”

BUCKS’ IMPRESSIVE TRANSFORMATION, BALL’S SPECIAL CURRENT PIES CONNECTION

Wellingham, who played one season under Buckley in 2012 before moving back to his native Western Australia – where he now remains – emphasised how impressed he was with how quickly his former coach adapted to the role in the coming years after the midfield was traded.

“I was so impressed in the way ‘Bucks’ grew into a great coach,” Wellingham said.

“He came in probably earlier than expected and changed the way coached and the way he saw his players. That’s just from an external point of view.”

Of course, the Magpies eventually returned to flag contention under Buckley including reaching the 2018 Grand Final and a further preliminary final the following year.

By that stage, the once polarising coach’s transformation and standing in such ranks was widely lauded as one of the most respected figures in his cohort.

Fast forward even further to the present day and Ball holds a special current connection to the club, having been on the panel that selected Buckley’s successor, Craig McRae, at the end of 2021.

It’s proven to be an inspired choice, with McRae — arguably the game’s best-performed coach over the last two years — helping change the club’s culture and leading its renaissance back to flag contention.

Asked what appealed to him about McRae during the selection process, Ball said: “I love how genuine he is, he’s very clear on what he values and who he is.

“He takes the time and make the effort, whereas a lot of us don’t. A lot of us seem to go 98 per cent of the way, but he seems to fully commit to what he’s doing.

“I also like the fact he’s got this dog about him too, which made him a great and underrated player. And he demands it of his players and urges them: ‘Win, lose or draw, we puff our chest out and act like winners,’ and I reckon that’s what we’ve seen.”

Ball admitted he now watches on as a “proud” former player with what’s been built under McRae, who served as an assistant coach at the Pies from 2011 to 2016.

“Not just of ‘Fly’ (McRae) — and he’d be the first to say — he’s only part of it and it’s the team he’s put around him as well and has them all in good positions,” Ball said.

“He’s got the place happy and clearly there’s a lot of talent there, too. At the moment, he’s getting the most out of it.

“I think they’re really well led, both on and off the field. It’s a pretty easy club to follow at the moment.

“It doesn’t guarantee you anything in the next month or so. But as a supporter, all you can ask is they have a crack and then you take the result. If they do that, what this year has shown is that, more often than not, the result is going to be a good one.”