It was an announcement that took many by surprise in the football world, but it is a decision that can only benefit Geelong as they look to continue their development into the 2026 AFL season.
Joining the Cats as an assistant coach next year, Nathan Buckley brings a wealth of experience as both a player and a coach having achieved plenty of success in both roles across his illustrious career.
The AFL great took Collingwood to a Grand Final and two Preliminary Finals across his 10 seasons as head coach, adding to his incredible resume as a player which included a Brownlow Medal, a Norm Smith Medal and seven All-Australian selections.
But after spending four years out of the coaching ranks and working in the media for an extended period, Buckley said he is ready to jump back into club life and is committed to giving his all to the Geelong Football Club.
"I don't think you are ever half into something like this," Buckley said on SEN Breakfast.
"If you are in a club environment and if you are committed to getting back into the cut and thrust of the game, then you jump in so that is exactly what I will be doing.
"As you would know, Geelong do things a little differently. Chris Scott is not your quintessential senior coach, he comes at problems from a different direction, as does Steve Hocking and Andrew Mackie.
"It was an interesting discussion over the last week and it came to pass that we feel that there is a fit there, for what I am passionate about and what I need to do, and where they are at."
Buckley's appointment as the Cats assistant coach and will work directly under Chris Scott, which will strangely bring about a full circle moment that has been in the works for 32 years.
At the end of the 1993 season, Collingwood and Brisbane struck a deal that would see Buckley traded to the Magpies in exchange for two players and pick 12 in the National Draft.
The Lions would use that pick to select none other than Chris Scott.
It will be an important piece to the coaching puzzle for Geelong, as they look to build on a brilliant 2025 season that saw the Cats fall just short of the ultimate glory on the last Saturday in September.
Buckley said it is an opportunity that he will relish, as he hopes to bring the best out of the playing group and unlock their potential heading into a new campaign.
"Hopefully it is absolutely challenging, I am looking forward to that," Buckley said.
"I am really open minded about what this looks like, and with the understanding that the first point of call is whatever is to the benefit of the Geelong Football Club, the players and the staff within it.
"To be back into another organisation, and to be even contemplating and understanding that my job will be to help Geelong win football games.
"To help their players to be the best that they can possibly be, to set up systems and structures that allow them to be better than their opposition week in, week out. That is my job and I am looking forward to that challenge."
