Nathan Buckley surprised those in attendance when he asked to make one final point before his post-game press conference came to an end on Sunday evening.
Collingwood had just beaten Carlton in a win that solidified their finals position, but the coach wished to speak about an article that was written during the week.
The article written in the Herald Sun suggested Buckley was unfulfilled because of his long tenure in the game as a player and coach without a premiership.
The former Collingwood captain played in two losing Grand Finals and coached the 2018 Grand Final loss.
Buckley wished to make it clear that his life would not be defined by a winning Grand Final.
“Can I just say something - I know there was an article in the paper the other day, I don’t want to make it all about me, it was about emptiness,” Buckley told reporters.
“I just want to put on record my life is very far from empty.
“I don’t have a flag, I’ll be working towards it, but it’s not going to define me whether I get it or not.
“My life is very full. I’m very fortunate I’ve got a lot of love, a great club, a great group of boys and I’m looking forward to whatever the next couple of months brings.”
Hearing the comments for the first time on SEN Breakfast on Monday morning, Garry Lyon was a big fan of Buckley’s proclamation.
“It puts perspective back into the conversation. When I read the article, I thought ‘that’s not going to define Nathan Buckley’,” Lyon said.
“He’s not going to go through life empty because he hasn’t won a premiership.
“From a footballing point of view maybe, but there’s more important things in life than footy.
“I’m a little bit surprised, but I’m glad he did it. The other thing is it sends a message to his playing group as well that there’s always got to be some balance in all of this.
“There are some that would be stressing about opportunity and whether this is going to pass them by.
“I like the message he sent in there, I really did.”
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