Unplugged: Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley speaks frankly. Credit:Getty Images There are few detours from parts one, two and three. Strong comments on coaching apprenticeships (for players) are an exception. Most of his answers are confined within those three parameters (Jeans' three phases were "either we've got the ball, they've got the ball, or it's in neutral"). It's not surprising that while he's forthright about where the Pies stand and how they can close the gap, he's less forthcoming about his own role and foibles and any refurbishments to himself. Buckley is among the most adept handlers of the media, because he has the great batsman's knack for knowing when to play an attacking shot, when to defend and when to let a curly ball go – though he seldom ducks a question completely. He doesn't not play, so much as deftly deflect the ball to fine leg. Entering his third season as senior coach, Buckley is driving a team that, fittingly, divides opinion on its merits. Some pundits reckon Collingwood, which has declined from grand finalist to fourth and then eighth, will miss the eight.

Others consider it a top four prospect, in what shapes as a season of great uncertainty. As with Richmond, Essendon, Adelaide, Geelong, Port Adelaide and West Coast, the Pies are viewed as a mystery team. If Hawthorn, Sydney and Fremantle are fancied as flag contenders, the Pies are considered to be in that crowded throng from fourth to 11th or 12th. Few pick them to win the flag. Does the coach "buck" the consensus? 1. Collingwood's position. It's one of the first questions, after some gentle warm-up chatter about how the pre-season has fared ("we've been able to fly under the radar") and the emphasis Collingwood is placing on goalkicking accuracy. What are your expectations for Collingwood this year? "Play our best, win every game that we play," Buckley said, shaping a straight drive. "Contend for the flag. That's our expectations."

Buckley assessed Collingwood to be a team in transition, seeking to regenerate before its next assault. "I feel like we're taking shape. The parts of the club that I feel needed to evolve and improve and to grow, that's starting to take shape. I feel like we've been able to find areas of improvement and really focus on them over the last 18 months. There has been change, sometimes there's turbulence with change and we've seen that and that's been well documented. "We've played in a couple of finals series in the same period and I think that we've been loading up for our next tilt at a top-four finish and therefore contention for premierships, and I think we're thereabouts." Hawthorn's 2013 flag team had retained just nine players from the 2008 side. Buckley described the Pies, who have forsaken Heath Shaw and been forsaken by Dale Thomas, as "a young side, a young list, a very talented list, who potentially can be a list that can be the best list in the comp if we find our best." The interviewer could not contain his scepticism. "[Contend] This year?" Buckley reiterated: "Yes."

The interviewer based his doubts, in part, on Shaw and Thomas' departure, to which the coach replied: "You've just said that one of them didn't play much footy over the last two years, and that's right. And we've got young blokes that have been pushing up and have proven their ability . . . and we also feel we've got growth in our established senior talent." Buckley said no one at the club was "living in la la land and thinking that we're, you know, where we were [in 2010]. So, there's – I think hunger has been created." If his expectation bespoke optimism, the coach admitted that the Pies were "clearly behind the top four sides from last year and have some catching up to do". Then, flipping back to Mr Positive, he said: "February 17 isn't when they hand the cup out . . . there's time to evolve." 2. How to close the gap. Buckley saw the Pies as owning a midfield that stacks up offensively and defensively with the best, but the team needed to improve "at the pointy ends of the ground".

In attack, goal-kicking accuracy had been a major focus for everyone - not just Travis Cloke - because the Magpies ranked 18th for conversion of set shots in 2013. "It's had a greater impact on our performance than a lot of other areas" said Buckley. The other "pointy end" – defence – needed midfield support, which the Pies had "drilled" in training. Buckley's backline has been under-resourced in the pre-season, with Alan Toovey recovering from a knee injury, Ben Sinclair only resuming in seniors on Sunday, Nick Maxwell absent last week, Paul Seedsman and Adam Oxley out for a while yet. And then there's Marley Williams, whom Buckley had told the interviewer he intended to play against Gold Coast this weekend, but who won't play for a while and whose immediate future will be shaped by an Albany court. Thus, with those regular defenders either injured, rested or in legal limbo, the Pies have been trialling newbies Jackson Ramsay and Tom Langdon, plus the green Peter Yagmoor and Jack Frost, with Alex Fasolo put behind the ball in his first (pre-season) game back from foot surgery. "In many ways, we've thrown them to the wolves. We're really keen on maintaining a structure through the midfield and forward that we believe we're going to be playing with early in the season. "So we haven't wanted to compromise that to cover down back, with the belief that we're going to be able to put together that unit over the next three weeks in preparation for round one."

The player formerly known as Harry O'Brien, relaunched as Heritier Lumumba, has remained in the midfield for now, and more significantly, he remained at Collingwood after storming out of a team meeting and having some time away from football in 2013. "H and I both had to work out if we thought that we had a relationship that could continue," said a frank Buckley, using the shorthand "H" instead of tongue-tangling Heritier. "And that was H's relationship, by extension, H's relationship with the Collingwood footy club, you know that's – I think that's actually made us stronger." The defence also has been without its best and most talented tall, Ben Reid, used in attack against the Tigers (five goals) last week. The placement of Reid is one of the defining decisions for Buckley, whose comments suggest that Reid will begin as a forward, but that he could be recalled to defence if circumstances demand it. "Reidy wasn't playing his best footy down back last year and you know he's had a really good pre-season, he's fitter than he was last year, he's ready to play whatever role's thrown at him. So whether that's forward or whether it's back, he's far better prepared than he was last year," Buckley said. "There's a lot of debate around it. In my mind, you know, Reidy's going to be a handful for the opposition and the way we want to play the game, it's important for those tall guys forward of centre, forward of the ball, that they're going to challenge the opposition key backs that we're seeing increasingly want to get off their man and impact aerially.

"Sydney have probably been a bit of a prototype in that regard . . . if you've got dangerous marking targets, the defenders need to spend a lot more time on them." The finals defeat by Port saw the term "cultural change" take hold of discussion of Collingwood and Buckley, who then traded Shaw and let a raft of senior players go, including internal critics Darren Jolly and Alan Didak. Port, according to Buckley, were "hungrier" and "played better team football for longer" but the defeat confirmed what the club already knew, rather than changed perceptions. 3. How he'll coach. The interviewer prodded the coach about Hawthorn, which Buckley had not beaten in five encounters, in which the Hawks averaged close to 20 goals. The questions were asking him to explain whether the failure against the 2013 premiers was really due to game styles, or personnel, or what. In truth, the coach was being asked to explain if he had a game-style deficiency against the top team.

Buckley said plenty of teams had struggled against Hawthorn over 2012-13. To the question of game-style failure, he said: "I contend it's probably more a period of evolution. As they've been on an upward swing, we've been trying to find our best again. We get two chances at them in the second half of the year this year. "They've beaten us at the coalface more often than not. Very few sides have been able to match our midfield in and around the ball . . . they definitely won the wrestle against us, the contested ball. That's where our challenge will be against Hawthorn." Buckley has already changed the old Mick Malthouse game plan radically. Once boundary huggers, the Pies are 18th for boundary play in two NAB Challenge games, and have reverted from kick-first football (another Malthouse-ism), to become No. 1 for handball thus far. "We're still learning that method and still learning that style. There's been progression through '12 and '13 to where we are now and I feel like we're in really good shape to make strong gains this year." Buckley said of handball explosion. "If you can take a small sample size at any time, you're going to find, there can be overreactions in certain areas."

Buckley wears a reputation for being tough on himself, and committed to self-improvement. In his captaincy days, he was seen as unforgiving of others in the early years. What the interviewer wanted, most of all, was for him to specify where the coach had sought to improve – to speak to his weaknesses. If it wasn't let go, this leg-cutter certainly wasn't hit through the covers either. Buckley's response was that he was focused on improving many facets, not just one. No specifics. "I guess I can't give you one mate, I guess there's so many wide and varied things that you've looked for," Buckley said. Yet, he found the front foot when it was put to him that he "owned" Collingwood in 2014 – after two seasons of coaching a team bequeathed him by Malthouse – in a way that he had not owned the 2012 or 2013 sides. "No, that's a cop out. I've been senior coach for two years, so my role at the club in the last 24 months is no less significant than my role now. I don't own it any more now than I ever have in this role," he said.

"There has been change, there has been personnel brought in, there's been personnel let go . . . I'm finding the next evolution of a football side."