Last month, Sports Entertainment Network announced that Australian Football Hall of Fame player and coach Nathan Buckley was set to join the station’s Breakfast line-up in 2022.
Buckley, who ended a long-term tenure as head coach at the Collingwood Football Club last year, will be teaming up with Garry Lyon for Breakfast with Garry & Bucks and with Gerard Whateley for Whateley.
Mediaweek spoke to Buckley about joining SEN, what he loves about radio, and his time in the Aussie jungle.
Getting Behind the Mic
After playing 260 games for the Magpies and then spending 10 seasons in charge of the club, Buckley announced his retirement last year. With a clear road ahead of him, he says that moving into media was a step that made sense.
“I had the back end of last year to sit and consider what my next options were, and media is something I’ve had an interest in,” Buckley says. “I’ve been the person on the other side of it – the person being speculated upon or judged or commented upon. I know both sides of it.
“I have a healthy cynicism around the way that sports media is run but I’m hoping to be able to, in my own way, bring some perspective to what the viewers or listeners are actually observing. I know how crucial it is to get those messages right, because they are largely adopted by the people that are absorbing them.”
For Buckley, what makes radio stand out is the ability to dig into details.
“Working in a leadership role at a football club, you spend a fair bit of time across all the media genres. The thing I like about radio is the capacity to be able to unpack an issue and to be able to delve a little bit deeper to get people’s opinions in conversations. I think that’s the beauty of radio.”
Joining SEN
Buckley says that being part of an organisation that loves sport as much as he does means that the station was an easy fit for him.
“They’ve done remarkably well. Sports is such a big thing in Melbourne and Victoria and across Australia. To have a network that’s really delving deeper into all sports, and to celebrate it in all its forms and all the stories that come from it, I think that’s great.”
Joining Buckley from 6am-9am Mondays will be Garry Lyon on Breakfast with Garry & Bucks. Each Tuesday from 9am-12pm, Buckley will join Gerard Whateley on Whateley.
“I’ve got great respect for them both, and that’s crucial to get the best out of any endeavour. The professional relationship that I have with those guys has been built up over a couple of decades, it’s really strong. I’m looking forward to getting into that, and then finding out what we can produce in this next period.”
While looking into the crystal ball is always going to be difficult, Buckley is hopeful that the upcoming AFL season isn’t as disrupted as the last couple have been.
“The last couple of years we’ve had have been chopped and changed, and the AFL have done remarkably well to put the competition together. Hopefully, we have a bit more clear air, and hopefully the supporters get to go and see the games a bit more often and in greater numbers. But there’s always that unknown – you don’t know how that’s going to play out.”
Of course, it won’t just be AFL that Buckley will be getting to the bottom of alongside Lyon and Whateley, but he’s looking forward to mixing things up.
“The longer I’ve been around the more I’ve realised that the basis of every sport is the same, it’s the connections with the people. Whether it’s an individual tennis player with a coach, with a physio, with a psychologist, or whether we’re actually dealing with team sports – it’s all about the interconnection of people and how you get the best out of one another.
“As much as sports can be very different when they’re played on the field, the preparation for and high performance in all of them is largely a common thread.”
I’m A Celebrity
The most recent season of Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! has just wrapped up, and Buckley was one of the people who packed up their lives to head into the Aussie jungle.
I’m A Celebrity… final six. Nathan Buckley second from the left.
“I really enjoyed it. It was a decision that was made in July, and we went away in September to pre-record the four weeks of shows up to the live finale.
“I underestimated how impactful it would be in regards to the connections I’d make with the other campmates, and that was the standout takeaway from it. I’ve got some friendships that I’m looking forward to developing even further, and I had some really strong connections made in a really short space of time, which is quite bizarre. I thought that the dynamic nature of the cast and the people that were in there was the standout thing for me, it was really enjoyable.”
Nathan Buckley and Garry Lyon can be heard Mondays, 6am- 9am commencing February 28th. Nathan Buckley and Gerard Whateley can be heard Tuesdays, 9am-12pm on Whateley.