"I reckon I capped my career and players cap what they could become by putting too much pressure and too much stress on themselves," Buckley said in an extensive interview with Sunday Age columnist Matthew Lloyd last week.

"A guy that stands out to me is Scott Pendlebury, as there's no greater competitor or bloke who has a will to win and to perform than 'Pendles', but his manner is so even and he's a fantastic leader to have around the place.

"I would have loved to have played like that, and I would have loved to have had a role model around like that, and I'd like to think that in my position I can help guys see that - and 'Pendles' is definitely going to do that by action. I want guys to see and to feel that you can still succeed and be elite without having to whip yourself every time you put a foot off the beaten path."

A few hours later, the few fans who did turn up to the Collingwood-Carlton match on Sunday night were treated to another sample of what Buckley was speaking about.

With the Blues up and about and scores level early, the Magpies needed something - or someone - to shake out the cobwebs. Enter their skipper, who pounced on a sloppy Carlton handball in the forward pocket, stepped inside the flailing Kade Simpson, calmly turned on to his left boot and threaded the needle from five or so metres inside the boundary line.

Pendlebury paid scant regard to the high-fives now coming his way, simply jogging back to the centre square for the next bounce. From the re-start, he loped forward again to the other pocket, where he moved into position to get on the end of a pass from Dayne Beams, easily out-marking opponent Dennis Armfield and converting again, this time on his wrong side and even closer to the boundary.

Again, he turned, emotions in check, and jogged back to the middle as commentators and former players of the calibre of Leigh Matthews and Cameron Ling bandied about the same sort of descriptors always used when Pendlebury is in the action, words like "composure", "balance" and "poise".

Asked to expand on those comments about his captain this week, Buckley hit the nail on the head with an even more succinct summary. "The way he plays footy, creating time and space for himself, is the way he lives his life, he creates time and space for himself," he said.

"The way he lives is uncomplicated along with the way he performs, and I think that's something that has held him in great stead. As much as he represents the club very well off the field, and understands and accepts that responsibility, he knows what his primary roles are, and he prioritises his time accordingly.

"From the moment he walked in the doors here, he was always mature beyond his years and able to maintain an absolute high level of professionalism, but just with a calmness and perspective that I've always admired. He's been able to really have that hunger to perform and succeed and to take every opportunity without getting so caught up in it that he loses himself from the rest of his life."

Pendlebury has been captain of Collingwood for just 14 games, but it's fair to say he's already made a sizeable impression in the role, not only on his coach, but everyone at the Westpac Centre. Not that they're overly surprised. ''Well, we made him captain for a reason," Buckley laughs.

His numbers and influence on games remain at the levels they've been for years now, this the fourth season in a row Pendlebury has averaged 29-point-something disposals per week, numbers maintained since he won both a premiership and a Norm Smith Medal in the 2010 grand final rematch.

For Collingwood, it's a return to the star-player-as-leader days. As inspirational as were Nick Maxwell and Scott Burns before him in their roles, they were skippers whose motivational qualities came from their attitudes and work ethic more than their inherent natural football ability.

When a recognised star becomes ordained as official leader the pressure is perhaps even greater, the football world more alert to the slightest drop in playing returns. It's a focus that has shone already to different degrees on the likes of Marc Murphy at Carlton, Trent Cotchin at Richmond and Ryan Griffen at the Western Bulldogs.

It once shone, too, on Buckley in his infancy as Collingwood captain, his early intensity in the role and demands of his teammates a constant source of both internal and external debate and something on which the former Magpie champion has admitted often he needed to temper.

Pendlebury has instead sailed through the initiation, his status purely as a player continuing to grow. On Saturday at Metricon Stadium, he'll lead Collingwood against Gold Coast, a game also providing a meeting of the AFL's two pre-eminent players. For if Gary Ablett's status as the game's No.1 is universal, Pendlebury is now almost similarly acclaimed as next in line.

"I'm not one that feels the need to rank players, as it generally only takes into account their ball-winning and using elements," says his coach. "The ultimate measure of any player is his ability to consistently impact on the game. It's my view that 'Pendles' is the complete footballer at present. His defensive work is as good as his offence."

As to the comparison between Pendlebury and Buckley himself as leaders and players, the question is half asked before there's an audible groan from the coach. "I know where this is going," he sighs, loath to run the ruler over himself and his current skipper.

It's one, however, that's impossible to ignore, particularly at the same stage of their careers. While the Brownlow Medal-winning coach became a club captain in his seventh season of AFL football, Pendlebury inheriting the mantle in his ninth, there's also some interesting parallels.

Buckley finished his career with 280 AFL games. At the stage he'd played 185, Pendlebury’s tally prior to the Gold Coast game, Buckley was averaging 25.4 disposals per game, Pendlebury currently with a career average of 25.7. Both at the 185-game mark averaged around one goal per game, as well as five marks.

In terms of honours, Buckley had by then racked up five Copeland Trophies for best and fairest to Pendlebury's two, the obvious qualification that the latter has played in a far more successful team.

Yet when it comes to top three best and fairest finishes, it's a closer call, eight to Buckley, six to Pendlebury, as with All-Australian nominations, six by then to Buckley, four to Pendlebury.

Buckley was 29 by the time he'd played 185 games. Pendlebury is still only 26. As the coach himself notes, there's plenty of time yet. "He's been around for a while now, but it's happened quickly for him." And, he notes, "without beating his chest about it and almost zero self-promotion".

Asked exactly what he meant in his comment to Lloyd about "capped my career", Buckley explains he's talking more about satisfaction than achievement. "I definitely capped my enjoyment of it."

And therein perhaps is the obvious admiration of coach for his new captain. Pendlebury, barely half a season into his tenure as captain of the AFL's most talked-about club, is already the sort of leader even Buckley had to spend several seasons becoming.

"It's a scary thing when you see a bloke who's got everything so under control, and so composed under pressure and stress. It just never bubbles to the surface, and that really filters through to the whole playing group," he says.

Buckley reiterates how loath he is to play the comparison game. But when it comes to compliments, there is no comparison. For the notoriously tough self-marker wouldn't ever have spoken about himself as Magpie skipper as glowingly as he does the one he as coach has appointed.

"Anything positive I say about 'Pendles' is totally warranted, because he's been exceptional," he says. "I really couldn't have asked for anything more."