A SCATHING war of words erupted between opposition coaches Brad Scott and Nathan Buckley last night as the postscript to the North Melbourne and Collingwood clash at Etihad Stadium which turned sour.
Scott told his Magpies counterpart to keep his opinions to himself after Buckley called Lindsay Thomas's off the ball hit on Ben Reid an "average'' act that would see the AFL "hold him to account for his actions''.
Magpies defender Reid did not return to the field having been left concussed and bleeding from the mouth after the third quarter incident.
As the ball was trickling out of play, Roos forward Thomas changed direction and clashed heads with an unsuspecting Reid who lay motionless on the ground for a couple of minutes.
A grossly undermanned Collingwood outclassed North Melbourne by 16 points, but the Thomas/Reid incident was the major talking point afterwards.
"I thought it was pretty average,'' Buckley said.
"I have full faith that the systems the AFL has in place will hold him to account for his actions.
"It was off the ball, unprovoked and we'll see how it happens.
"I don't want to pre-empt anything, but clearly if it's behind play and it it's high you're in a bit of strife.''
Scott was left seething by Buckley's remarks.
"Nathan Buckley should just worry about his own team,'' Scott said.
"Commentary like that doesn't help. I don't know what incident Nathan Buckley saw but a head clash is a head clash, it does happen in football, we play a contact sport.
"Bucks should just keep his opinions to himself when it comes to decisions and things that will be taken care of by the powers that be.
"It doesn't help when a senior coach comes in and starts influencing things and casting dispersions (sic) on our players.
"If Bucks wants to call me he can.''
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley's fury at North Melbourne's Lindsay Thomas for an off-the-ball clash that sidelined his defender Ben Reid has triggered a bitter spat with his counterpart at the Kangaroos, Brad Scott.
Buckley said Thomas would - and should - be ''feeling pretty sorry about'' an third-quarter incident in which a shepherd he laid on Reid resulted in the Magpies' key-defender leaving the ground with a bloodied mouth and being unable to return for the rest of the match.
The damage was caused by a head clash between the pair after the Kangaroo forward shifted his focus from the nearby ball to bump Reid.
Asked after the Magpies' 16-point win at Etihad Stadium what he thought of the incident, Buckley said it was ''pretty average'' and praised his players for maintaining their composure as they remonstrated with Thomas.
''I have full faith that the systems that the AFL has in place will hold him to account for his actions. It was off the ball and it was unprovoked. We'll see how it settles,'' Buckley said.
''I think the AFL rules take care of that. I don't want to pre-empt anything but clearly (if) it's behind play and it's high you're in a bit of strife.''
Furthermore, Buckley accused Thomas of feigning injury from the head clash, after which he was temporarily taken from the ground to a chorus of boos from the Magpies contingent at Etihad Stadium.
''He stayed down and tried to fake [an injury from] that as well,'' Buckley said.
''It was not a great act. I'm sure he'd be feeling pretty sorry for it right now.''
While Scott had not had an opportunity to hear Buckley's comments by the time he spoke to the media after his team's loss, he was nonetheless furious his Collingwood counterpart had made any comment at all about Thomas.
''Nathan Buckley should just worry about his own team. Commentary like that doesn't help,'' Scott said.
''I don't know what incident Nathan Buckley saw but a head clash is a head clash, it does happen in football. We play a contact sport. "'Bucks' should just keep his opinions to himself when it comes to ... things that will be taken care of by the powers that be. It doesn't help when a senior coach comes in and starts influencing things and casting aspersions over our players.''
COLLINGWOOD will bring its stars back gradually as it manages a long injury list full of big names.
Magpie coach Nathan Buckley said after Sunday night's win against North Melbourne that he would let the dust settle before determining who is available for the massive round two clash against Carlton.
He said the club would not make wholesale changes in one week.
Both Dayne Beams (quad) and Heath Shaw (illness) were late withdrawals from the round one team and joined Dale Thomas, Andrew Krakouer, Alan Didak, Clinton Young, Alex Fasolo, Luke Ball and Lachie Keefe on the sidelines.
Ben Reid (concussion) and Ben Johnson (corkie) finished the game on the bench.
Buckley said Collingwood would only play players who had the necessary preparation for senior football.
"You can't bring seven or eight blokes back into a side fresh," Buckley said.
"The intensity and demands of this part of the season dictate that you need to have that game exposure and that game intensity so we'll need to smooth our players back in."
Collingwood called up stoppage specialist Josh Thomas on Saturday to replace Beams and make his debut while Jack Frost found out just half-an-hour before the game he was required to replace Shaw.
Buckley wondered aloud whether he had walked under a ladder or had a black cat stroll in front of him such were the hiccups the side encountered in the lead-up. He said they were still hopeful they could cover the losses.
"Coming in to the game we had concerns about personnel and wondering whether we had lost too much quality to play the way that we did tonight," Buckley said.
But it's not just the talent level of the team that gets you wins. It's the efforts and the perseverance and the application to their roles and that is exactly what we saw."
Thomas and Krakouer played in a practice match against the AIS-AFL academy on Thursday while Young was said to be seven to 10 days away in the middle of last week.
The extent of Beams' injury is unclear while Shaw should recover for next week's game. Reid is expected to be OK while Johnson will be monitored.
"We'll let the dust settle from this and see how we go," Buckley said.
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