EIGHT months on from his final game in charge of Collingwood, Nathan Buckley hasn't missed coaching but won't rule out a return to the coaches' box in the future.
The 49-year-old ended a connection with the Magpies that spanned nearly half his life when he coached the club to victory in last year's traditional Queen's Birthday blockbuster against Melbourne.
But now Buckley is immersed in the game again after returning to life in the media for the second time, following a brief dalliance between playing and coaching, when he worked for Channel Seven, 3AW and The Age in 2008 and 2009.
Buckley, who coached Collingwood 218 times over nearly a decade after a 280-game playing career that netted a Brownlow Medal and seven All-Australian selections, is set to become a key voice in the AFL media landscape this year, working for Fox Footy and SEN.
While the Demons went all the way to end a 57-year premiership drought last September, Buckley spent most of that month in the jungle on reality TV show I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and most of summer out of Melbourne.
Now Buckley is back in the city and back in the spotlight, just in a different role than we have become accustomed to over the past 30 years.
"No, I haven't missed coaching because I felt like I had wrung the towel dry," Buckley told AFL.com.au at the Fox Footy launch this week.
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"I feel really content with where things have gone and where they've settled. I don't spend a lot of time looking back; I look forward and I'm really positive about the opportunities that are ahead of me, both through Fox and SEN.
"I think I would coach again, but I really don't know. Planning and projecting forward is a big part of who I've been – being ambitious and achieve this, achieve that – I'm probably wanting to go about it a different way, really sit in this space, enjoy the moment for what it is without really projecting too far.
"I'm getting better at that – over the last four or five years a lot better at that. It has set me up for this [media career] because I'm not really wanting things to turn out a certain way or another, I'm happy to go along and throw myself into this and see where it lands."
After nearly three decades functioning within the rigid confines of a football program that was methodically planned almost to the minute for every day of the season, Buckley has found himself with plenty of time on his hands since June. Almost too much time.
It has meant more time with family and friends, as well as plenty of time pounding the pavement. Buckley has kept his Strava account ticking over in recent months, regularly running half-marathons on weekends and punching out 10kms during the week.
"It's not something that you're used to. The day after the game up in Sydney you head back to Melbourne and then, 'OK, what now?'" Buckley said.
"Life was regimented so heavily because there are so many responsibilities that you have, people that you need to look after and take care of, plus finding family time. To have all of that time and space was confronting, really.
"The first week the boys went into a bye, so there was no one in at the club. You head into the office, pack it up, get out and make as little waves as you can. For me, it was spending time with people who I hadn't spent much time with, family and friends. I had a lot of time. Sometimes it's difficult to sit in that space when you don't have that regiment and it was uncomfortable, but I got used to it. It was good to have the days to yourself."
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Buckley will no longer have as many days to himself as he has enjoyed over the past eight months. He will spend Monday and Tuesday mornings in the SEN studio dissecting the main stories to emerge from each round. Then he will provide expert commentary for Fox Footy one game per round, along with a new variety show after games on Saturday nights.
After so many years on the receiving end of analysis and scrutiny, Buckley wants to challenge the way the digital and print media covers the game, which could result in him turning the spotlight on the two outlets who now employ him.
"I want to be an antagonist in some ways – not so much towards the coaches or the players – I want to turn it back on the way the media share the information and the finances and the economics of the industry are asking for clicks," he said.
"Whatever gets clicks gets repeated; that's gone away from traditional longform journalism to tabloid stuff. When you do that, you might actually lose the essence of the moment, of the event, of the occasion; you definitely lose the humanity of the whole thing and the colour in the whole thing.
"I'd like to prosecute the headline and find a way bring that back. Radio is going to be easier because it's longform and maybe an analysis pre-game, post-game in broadcast, there's an opportunity to challenge straight away.
"If a newsmaker comes up with this is the story, I hope that if that is the story, I hope that this is considered, even in that moment to add a little bit of colour to it for perspective. I'm hoping to do that; I'm hoping I don't become too cynical but that's where I'd like to take it."
