Nathan Buckley has turned up to AFL pre-season training with a less "overbearing" coaching manner, according to Collingwood defender Tom Phillips.
Buckley has started work under a two-year contract extension, which was signed in August despite the Magpies' absence from finals since 2013.
Phillips, 21, has lauded the coach's new approach, crediting Buckley's new assistants as having a calming effect despite losing long-time lieutenant Scott Burns to Hawthorn.
"I can feel just walking in over the last week, he is much more relaxed and not as full on and overbearing as he has been in that coaching role over the past few years," Phillips told SEN radio on Thursday.
"He has definitely taken a bit of a step back and has really started trusting and relying on the great assistant coaches we have coming in.
"Justin Longmuir, Garry Hocking and Matthew Boyd from the Dogs, who is just out of the game. (They are) some great guys who have came in.
"Credit to Bucks, he really, at this stage, has a fresh mind."
Buckley's coaching has come under fire after the club finished with 13th in 2017, particularly over the recruitment of maligned forward Chris Mayne and injury-prone midfielder Daniel Wells.
But Phillips credited the club for its show of faith in the coach as it moves to build stability.
"Two more years at the helm again which is great and I've signed on for two years as well," Phillips said.
"So I think in that respect, he is really fresh in the mind at the moment.
"He seems pretty calm."
