Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has defended the skill level of modern day AFL players, highlighting the changes of the game since yesteryear.

His defence comes in the wake of Garry Lyon suggesting that we should be looking at “freezing the wages” of footballers until their skill level improves.

“The skill level of AFL football is deplorable right now,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.

“In what other industry do we continue to reward people when the performance is going down?”

Buckley was quick to defend the skill level though, suggesting that a player from a previous era may struggle today.

“I’d like to see some of the players through the 90s come into modern day football and try and execute their skills the way they did back then, even the most skilful guys, with the level of pressure that the modern footballer is under,” he told SEN’s Whateley.

“The logical reason that goal scoring accuracy hasn’t improved has to be around fatigue.

“The skill itself has been practiced more than it ever has been. It might be a mentality, there might be more perceived pressure.

“Every game is able to be viewed now and there’s four cameras.

“Back when Doug Wade was kicking them, there was no video review, there was no angles, and only one of the six or seven games on a Saturday was showed as the match of the day.“

The Magpies will aim for a seventh straight win when they head to the SCG to take on Sydney on Friday night.

Hear Nathan Buckley on Whateley in the player below.