The backlash against Riewoldt has come after comments he made about Buckley.
Nick Riewoldt has sparked a war of words with several other former AFL stars after remarks about Nathan Buckley‘s prospects of becoming coach of the new Tasmania side. Dane Swan and other members of Collingwood’s so-called ‘Rat Pack’ of players that won the 2010 AFL premiership took aim at Riewoldt’s suggestion that they have given Buckley a bad reputation as a coach.
The backlash came after Riewoldt talked up his Fox Footy colleague Buckley, claiming the Magpies legend would be a terrific appointment as head coach at the Tasmanian Devils expansion side, which will join the AFL in 2028. “I love it, I think it would be a fantastic acquisition,” Riewoldt said on the Footy Talk podcast this week.
“I think at times the reason ‘Bucks’ gets a bit of a bad rap as a coach is because of a certain segment of Collingwood players that like to hang it on him from time to time. The Rat Pack, they like to hang it on Bucks… I think it would be a great acquisition (to Tasmania), football person, a big personality and he’s very well-balanced as a person.”
It was Riewoldt’s comment about the Rat Pack that incensed Swan as well as other former Collingwood players such as Heath Shaw that were part of the group. Alan Didak, Ben Johnson and Chris Tarrant were also credited with being part of the Rat Pack, which was a nickname given to the handful of big personality stars at the club, and later included Dale ‘Daisy’ Thomas and Chris Tarrant.
Many of the Collingwood premiership stars believe they had a side capable of creating a dynasty similar to the Brisbane Lions side that won three premierships from 2001 to 2003 and the Richmond side that claimed three flags in four years from 2017 to 2020. But after winning the 2010 flag under Mick Malthouse and making the grand final in 2011, Collingwood replaced the veteran coach with Buckley as part of the club’s succession plan and they failed to win another premiership under the Magpies great.
Dane Swan and Heath Shaw lash out after swipe at ‘Rat Pack’
It’s why Riewoldt’s comments about the Rat Pack and Buckley as a candidate for the Tasmania job ruffled the feathers of Swan and Shaw in particular. “The Rat Pack hang it on everyone, not just Bucks,” Swan said on his podcast Hump Day with Swanny and Friends. “With all due respect, what the f**k would Nick Riewoldt know about Nathan Buckley being a coach?
“I don’t know if he’s having a go at us… the Rat Pack beat him (Riewoldt) in a grand final. Heath Shaw’s smother, one of the main leaders, smothered him and he cost them the granny (grand final). Unless Bucks has fed him that, how would he know?”
‘Daisy’ Thomas and Shaw also spoke about Riewoldt’s comments on their podcast and Shaw – who was famously traded away from Collingwood during Buckley’s tenure – lashed his former coach when asked if there was “any falsity in his (Riewoldt’s) statement” about the Rat Pack. Shaw answered: “No”, but added “that’s got nothing to do with the reason why (Buckley) gets a bad rap as a coach. (It was because) his record was no good… for most of the time.
“Yes, they made a grand final, and yes, they were a kick away (in 2018), but they did progress — after I left, of course — slowly downhill for five years straight. (He) took a team from a grand final… and we’re talking about stats and AFL (people) love stats at the moment, but that’s not an ideal stat.”
Thomas said it’s never been a personal agenda against Buckley for him, more a feeling of regret or sense of a missed opportunity to achieve greatness if Malthouse stayed on as coach. “We were sort of thinking dynasty. A lot of things have to go right, we all know that, but we thought we were in a (premiership) window. So a lot of the frustration and ‘since talk’ about it is on the back of that, rather than a personal agenda (against Buckley),” Thomas said.
Shaw says it was personal for him though after being traded from the Magpies. And he let rip at both his former coach and Riewoldt over the recent comments. “Yeah, but obviously it is personal as well (for me) because he traded me,” Shaw said. “The whole team didn’t get traded – it was just you, me, and a couple of mates.
“I think he (Buckley) was the one who had an issue with us because we got the ultimate glory (a premiership). At least those two have something in common, Bucks and Nick Riewoldt, they’re not premiership players … that’s probably why they’re hanging out and talking up each other.”