Shortly after 5pm on Saturday, West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson or Collingwood boss Nathan Buckley will become a premiership coach for the first time.
It’s a remarkable transformation for two coaches who just 12 months ago were both desperately clinging to their jobs, let alone eyeing a grand final berth. On Tuesday, Buckley was voted senior coach of the year by the AFL coaches association, with Simpson the standout rival.
Last season Buckley barely survived a forensic dissection of the club by CEO Geoff Walsh. Despite taking the club to finals in his first two years at the helm, Buckley failed to return the Pies to September action over the next four years.
Collingwood plummeted to thirteenth on the ladder last season – the lowest under Buckley’s six-year tenure – yet he was rewarded with a two-year extension.
Buckley’s contract extension was heavily criticised in footballing circles because of his lack of success. The club was under siege.
The Pies then gutted the coaching department and signed defensive coach Justin Longmuir, Geelong great Gary Hocking (midfield) and Western Bulldogs premiership player Matthew Boyd as the development coach.
There was some serious questions raised around the recruitment of former Fremantle forward Chris Mayne and the stuttering development of American import Mason Cox.
Mayne has been praised by the club for his resilience and resurgence this year and Cox was instrumental in the Pies preliminary final win over the Tigers las weekend. Both will line-up in the Pies’ grand final side this weekend.
But a grand final berth seemed miles away when the Giants left the Pies 0-2 at the start of the season. It didn’t take long for the buzzards to start circling above Buckley’s head again.
Collingwood CEO Eddie McGuire had previously blamed the club’s horrific injury toll for the reason why Buckley was unable to get the best out of his charges.
But when luckless Magpie Tim Broomhead suffered a serious leg injury against the Giants and star forward Darcy Moore limped off shortly after with a hamstring strain, Buckley refused to blame the loss on the club’s injury curse.
The stressed-out looking Buckley of 2017 was gone. He would deflect any talks about his coaching future with a grin and was even sporting a ginger beard thanks to a bet with a number of his teammates. Buckley seemed to be having fun and it wouldn’t be long for the players joined in.
Then in a blink of an eye the Pies became a potent attacking force.
First-year player Jayden Stephenson – who would go on to win the NAB AFL Raising Star award – was sublime up front. Mature age recruit Brody Mihocek was plucked from nowhere and wasn’t long before he was dancing around defenders.
Jordan De Goey was developing into the best small forward in the game and looked like a young man on a permanent Contiki Tour. The disharmony and disunity unearthed in last’s review scathing review of the club was gone.
When the Pies stunned the Tigers to win a place in their first grand final since 2011, the clubs remarkable resurgence was complete.
And the Eagles turnaround is no less remarkable.
The scrutiny of Simpson last season may not have been as intense as Buckley but over in the west, fans were calling for his head after a string of last quarter capitulations.
When the Eagles coughed up a four-goal lead with only seven minutes to go in the round 18 clash against the Pies, your humble scribe wrote an opinion piece calling on Simpson to be sacked.
Simpson fired back saying he was “up for the fight”.
“There is a bit of doom and gloom at the moment but I’m still up for it,” said Simpson in July 2017.
“There has to be an element of fact about the criticism.”
Much of the criticism aimed at Simpson was his failure to blood young players into an ageing midfield that was being dubbed “too slow”.
Shortly after the Eagles had to deal with the stunning retirement of the club’s favourite son Matt Priddis, only months after he accepted a new one-year deal.
Ironically, Priddis, along with star recruit Sam Mitchell were seen as part of the too-slow brigade.
The Eagles were tipped by many pundits to finish in the bottom half of the ladder this year and if the club started poorly the knives would be out for Simpson.
But their retirement of Mitchell and Priddis would turn out to be a blessing, with Elliot Yeo and Jack Redden adding much needed spice into the midfield.
But with the departure of a number of key Eagles, Simpson was forced to do what he was reluctant to do in 2017 – blood young players.
This year the Eagles have debuted eight players which is the most in the AFL, alongside Fremantle.
Like the Pies, the emergence of a number of first-year players has been the key to the Eagles success this campaign.
The introduction of livewire forwards Liam Ryan and Willie Rioli has added much-needed zip to the forward line.
The Eagles had always had a potent forward line with the twin towers of Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy, but lacked a number of quality crumbing forwards.
The Eagles then went on a 10-game winning streak.
And like Buckley, Simpson and the Eagles players were enjoying themselves.
The Eagles coach has bemoaned the “nice guy” tag, but his compassion for his players stands out.
When Nic Naitanui ruptured the ACL in his right knee in round 17, Simpson was overcome with emotion.
Not because of the loss of the giant ruckman but because of his genuine affection for his players.
Whichever coach holds aloft the cup this Saturday, one thing is certain. Both Buckley and Simpson will have jobs at their clubs for years to come. But then again, as both coaches have shown, 12 months is a long time in football.
