Nathan Buckley’s mission for all 18 AFL coaches in 2025

Lachlan Geleit • March 5th, 2025 5:30 pm

Nathan Buckley has revealed his mission for all 18 AFL coaches ahead of the 2025 season.

Buckley put the coaches into nine categories – Cloning, Creating chaos, Contending, Quarantine, Cocooning, Coming out, Cobbling, Cultivating and Concerning.

The former Collingwood coach gave an explanation on each category and went into depth with Gerard Whateley on how each coach will hope to shape up their season.

Check out Buckley’s missions below.

Cloning

Chris Fagan (Brisbane)

“He just wants to see his group go about his business in the same way this season,” Buckley told SEN's Whateley.

“He’ll want to clone his group, if they turn up the same way they did last year, they’ll be hard to beat.”

Creating chaos

Chris Scott (Geelong), Craig McRae (Collingwood)

“They don’t want a stoppage game … they want to impose chaos on any opposition they play because they think they can beat anyone like that.”

Contending

Adam Kingsley (GWS), Justin Longmuir (Fremantle), Michael Voss (Carlton)

“These guys have lists that have top four in their heads. They should be heading for that.”

Quarantining

Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)

“If they were what they were in the back two thirds of last year, they’re going to be really hard to beat … but they will not get the same circumstances they had in 2024 … he’ll want to quarantine his group from any extra noise and the increased spotlight in 2025.”

Cocooning

Damien Hardwick (Gold Coast), Matthew Nicks (Adelaide), Dean Cox (Sydney)

“All for different reasons … but the idea for cocooning is going away in the pre-season to become a better version of themselves. These clubs are looking to take a big step.”

Coming out

Simon Goodwin (Melbourne), Ken Hinkley (Port Adelaide)

“For different reasons, they’ll want to come out of a period of disruption and unrest.”

Cobbling

Ross Lyon (St Kilda), Luke Beveridge (Western Bulldogs)

“Their injury statuses at the early stage of this year means they’ll be cobbling to put a team together in the early stages to not fall behind the eight-ball.”

Cultivating

Brad Scott (Essendon), Andrew McQualter (West Coast), Alastair Clarkson (North Melbourne)

“Brad Scott is a little more advanced here … but they’re going back to basics and regardless of wins and losses, they’ll judge themselves on the way they want to go about things.”

Concerning

Adem Yze (Richmond)

“I don’t know, because of the circumstances, if we can really judge his ability as a coach.”

Watch Buckley’s full chat with in-depth explanations of each mission below: