Fears for Buckley built Pies pressure

COLLINGWOOD captain Scott Pendlebury says uncertainty about Nathan Buckley’s coaching future put a big strain on the team.

The five-time club champion was adamant the Magpies should retain Buckley on a multi-year deal as speculation increases that his contract will be extended at the end of the season.

Pendlebury, 29, said an internal guarantee from the club last month that Buckley would coach out the season lifted a weight off the players.

“The pressure was on and it just felt like every week, even earlier in the year, if we lose a game, ‘What’s going to happen?’ ” he said on the Jock and Journo podcast.

“When the club came out and said, ‘He has got until the end of the year’, as it was always thought, the pressure is off. We are not playing in fear every week.

“It took the pressure off the playing group that you weren’t going to lose the coach if you lost a game of footy.”

The Pies have won three and drawn one of their past four games, and are only two premiership points off matching their 2016 tally.

Pendlebury said Buckley’s next deal should be for several seasons.

“There’s no doubt in my mind he’s the right person to coach this club, not just next year, but for a couple of years,” he said.

“He is coaching really well.”

LEVI Casboult has not yet agreed to a move to Richmond but is open to relocating to a club that will offer him a long-term deal.

The Blues spearhead has taken the most contested marks in footy this year and kicked an equal team-high 29 goals for Carlton.

But while the Tasmanian grew up a Blues fan, his status as an unrestricted free agent reflects his modest wage. Casboult is not among Carlton’s top 10 highestpaid players.

Despite reports he had agreed in principle with the Tigers, manager Anthony McConville said yesterday he was considering options.

He is intent on waiting until season’s end and is keen to maximise the terms of the most lucrative contract of his career after turning 27 in March.

Of the 36 players in the competition who have had at least 100 hitouts (he has 137), his 29 goals are 12 more than any other player.

It is believed Casboult wants a deal of at least three years and with a pay level reflecting his position as one of the few key forwards on the market.

He has multiple suitors, including Richmond, where his marking and contested work in the forward line would help the Tigers’ fleet of quick crumbers.

McConville said yesterday Casboult had made no decision on his future.

“At this point in time there is no deal from any club that has been brokered or agreed to,” he said.