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Nathan Buckley names his 2025 premiership bubble
Jaiden Sciberras • June 23rd, 2025 6:51 pm
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has declared five teams as true premiership contenders in 2025.
Off the back of Round 15’s results, nine AFL teams have split from the competition, developing a two-game buffer on sides in the bottom nine to establish themselves as likely September candidates this season.
While each of the nine sides could mount a case to plead their premiership hopes, Buckley has adjudicated five sides as true threats to remain standing on the final day of September.
“It just seems abundantly clear to me who the contenders for the premiership are,” Buckley told SEN’s Whateley.
“We’ve already got a really clear delineation; there’s a top nine and a bottom nine. That has been pretty well established, there’s a couple of games and percentage between ninth and tenth now.
“This is the bubble - clearly Collingwood are up there. Collingwood are clearly putting themselves in a great position.
“I think Brisbane and Geelong are the closest contenders. There’s a little rider on Geelong, but I still think their best against the best is still going to be good enough to win.”
Outside of the current top three, Buckley listed two sides on the outskirts of the eight that could cause significant trouble at the latter end of the year.
“The two that I think that can worry those three sides are actually the Giants, who I had as my premiership tip before the season began,” Buckley said.
“They’ve played nowhere near the way that I thought they would play, but they’ve still beaten Collingwood, Brisbane and Geelong.
“That game against the Suns without (Brent) Daniels, who I think is a really important player, without (Sam) Taylor, who I think is a really important player.
“That was a win for merit, so I have the Giants in there as well.
“The other team I think (is in the bubble) is the Dogs. Largely it’s around a (Sam) Darcy, a (Marcus) Bontempelli, a stacked midfield.
“They’ve got a lot of young blokes playing important roles, but on any given day if they can get the job done and they can stand up, their guns can win them a big final.
“They could - if they get enough momentum - beat the next best team if they got to the last day in September.
“I think they’re the five. To do that I’ve left out Adelaide, I’ve left out Hawthorn, I’ve left out the Suns and I’ve left out Freo, and of those four teams only one of them played finals last year in Hawthorn.
“There’s still that right of passage, and the Dogs have still got that as well, but there is a callusing that happens through a final’s series.
“You can jump in, and you can go deep in your first run, but there’s probably still a little bit to go with those teams that I don’t have in there.”
