Painful loss, but a review just like any other game

COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley has revealed his club’s two-step approach to helping his players manage the greatest disappointment in the game: losing a grand final.

At the start of pre-season, Buckley tried to downplay the significance of the occasion with a regular match review process that replicated their 2018 campaign.

Collingwood was gallant in its narrow loss to West Coast last September, leading with less than two minutes remaining before Dom Sheed’s sharpshooter effort gave the Eagles victory.

The last-gasp nature only accentuated the hurt, and Buckley admitted as much when speaking last night at a function for A-League club Melbourne Victory.

“On the night I was no good,” Buckley said.

“The healing started for me the next day, we got back in and started getting around each other and the team.”

The first step was a confidence boost.

“The boys got together on the Sunday and had exit reviews on the Monday or Tuesday,” he said. “By the time we’ve got to Tuesday arvo it’s only three days, four days post-GF but you’re feeling a whole lot better about your year and your prospects going forward if you actually look at the positives.

“We handled the occasion. We weren’t overawed. We jumped into the game early.

“There were some key moments that we’ve reflected on that we didn’t execute our plan well enough ... (and) the better team won on the day.”

Buckley said he started Collingwood’s pre-season in December with a review in the same way they treated every week in 2018.

“We reviewed it the way we reviewed every game that we played last year,” he said.

“Coaches had a match committee review. Leaders did a leadership review. Individuals did their tapes.

“We normalised it as much as we possibly could.”