Nathan Buckley from out of nowhere.
The Collingwood legend on Monday night took a surprising shot at ex-pupil Jaidyn Stephenson during a discussion about North Melbourne’s woes.
The Kangaroos slipped to an eighth-consecutive defeat to start the 2024 season with a lacklustre performance during a 38-point loss to St Kilda on Saturday.
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Pressure has been building on coach Alastair Clarkson with the club sitting dead last on the ladder while showing no real signs of progress under the veteran coach.
Buckley on Monday night questioned the attitude of Kangaroos players before his comments took a sudden, unprovoked turn towards Stephenson.
Buckley famously showed Stephenson the door during Collingwood’s disastrous salary cap dump during the 2020 Trade Period.
It’s why his new comments about the 25-year-old have raised eyebrows.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch, Buckley was scathing of how the team’s players and coaching staff failed to show support for rising star Jackson Archer after he gave away a 50m penalty for ill-discipline.
Archer, the son of Roos great Glenn, conceded a 50m penalty after failing to give the ball back to ruckman Rowan Marshall after a mark, instead dropping it.
When he walked off the field moments later, Buckley noted how nobody went and spoke to the 21-year-old.
His comments ended with a blowtorch on Stephenson.
You can watch the comments in the above video player
“Every single person at a football club can drive a spirit, connection and support. That kid (Archer) is beating himself up already, he doesn’t need someone to come and rev him up,” Buckley said.
“He needs someone to say: ‘Hey, next time. We back you, we trust you and we’re with you.’
“North need to back a kid like that who’s going to give competitive efforts. Over say a Jaidyn Stephenson, who when he gets selected is inconsistent with his effort.
“I don’t know what standard you’re setting when you pick players like that.”
A surprised Garry Lyon responded by saying “strong words”.
Buckley and Stephenson have never seen eye to eye when it comes to the club’s tumultuous 2020 Trade Period where Adam Treloar also exited the Magpies.
Buckley, who coached Collingwood for nine years before leaving in the middle of the 2021 season, has made several classy, public comments about Stephenson in recent years, but has also said things that have been interpreted as criticism.
Buckley at the time suggested Treloar and Stephenson were replaceable and were not “glue guys” essential to the club.
Lyon responded to those 2020 comments by saying: “That’s as big a kick in the a**e as anything that’s come out of it for me. It’s a big slap”.
Stephenson has also said he was disappointed by how his trade away from Collingwood was handled, saying in 2021 that nobody from Collingwood had contacted him before being told by his manager that the club wanted to trade him.
He said he didn’t see it coming. He ultimately signed a five-year contract with the Roos.
“I enjoyed being there, so to be told in a way that you’re not wanted, it does hurt,” he said.
“I’m disappointed I don’t get to show my full potential at Collingwood. That’s their loss and North’s gain hopefully.”
Stephenson will get another chance to prove Buckley wrong when North Melbourne face the Gold Coast Suns in Darwin on Saturday.