Collingwood president Eddie McGuire says a shift in the club's culture and mindset is the reason behind their meteoric rise this season.
Pressure was mounting at the Holden Centre last year after the Pies looked set to miss finals for a fourth straight campaign amid a mid-season review, with coach Nathan Buckley set to come out of contract.
And after handing Buckley a two-year contract extension, McGuire said he has noticed a shift in the Collingwood's coaches' attitude.
โI think heโs a lot more relaxed, he has invested far more in the playing group and everyone around him and heโs doing now what he has to do and that is be a coach and a mentor,โ McGuire told SENโsย Crunch Time.
โIt was the footy club, and Nathan, and everyone, and me (that needed to change). Iโve come at it with a different approach this year.
โA lot of people think the panacea is to sack everybody, particularly in the media, and thatโs not the way to go in life or in business.
โItโs like anything, you have to actually admit it to yourself that things are wrong and start looking for the right solutions as opposed to band-aids and excuses.โ
The Pies president said the players did not want Buckley to be sacked, but conceded that may not have been the case a few years ago.
โThe players wanted Nathan Buckley. Was that the case 3-4 years ago? Probably not, but certainly it was at this stage and this young generation coming through have a completely different mindset to those that were here in 2012,โ he said.
Collingwood currently sit third on the ladder despite enduring a crippling season of injuries, and McGuire noted he could not remember the last time he has enjoyed football so much.
โItโs been another year where weโve just been absolutely slaughtered with injuries, but at the same time there is a tremendous optimism around the club and a great feeling that I havenโt felt for a number of years at Collingwood,โ he said.
โI havenโt enjoyed a year like this for a long, long time.
โWe just needed to get the fabric right and I think weโd been a little bit out of step with ourselves in the last few years.โ
McGuire added that Buckley had tweaked something that seemed to be working so well for the Pies during their seven-game win streak.
โNathanโs grown his beard back this week,โ McGuire announced.
