Sydney and Collingwood have emerged from an eventful final weekend of the NAB Challenge with some concerns ahead of round one of the premiership season.
Lance Franklin (head knock) and Kieren Jack (abdomen) were both taken to hospital after suffering heavy blows in the Swans' six-point win against GWS in Canberra, while Levi Greenwood was carried from Etihad Stadium on Saturday night with an ankle injury.
Early indications were that none of those injuries were major - with Franklin and Jack cleared to fly back to Sydney with the team - but Greenwood is in some doubt for the opening round of the season.
The possible loss of Greenwood is clearly a concern for Buckley, but perhaps even more worrying was the lacklustre manner of his side's 61-point capitulation to the unfancied Bulldogs.
Collingwood took a strong side into the match, but Luke Beveridge's men simply outworked their opposition.
The Dogs impressed with their slick ball movement and overlap run, but also pressured their opponents into costly turnovers and ran hard defensively when they didn't have the ball.
"We would have liked to have performed better," Buckley said.
"That's not a reflection of the way that we've trained and prepared.
"There's obviously a bit of work for us to do to between now and April 4 to make sure that we present in better nick than we displayed this evening.
"We're coming off a six-day break and our players are still getting conditioned to that scenario ... if I can find a reason why we might not have been on top of the ground that would be one, but it's no excuse - we want to be better than that."
Stuart Dew, deputising for premiership coach John Longmire, admitted his heart was in his mouth as Franklin lay motionless on the turf after a clash of heads with teammate Gary Rohan and again when Jack was taken from the field.
"You do worry when two players have been sent to hospital," Dew said.
"I think they're OK - they both went off for precautionary scans. At this stage they should be OK.
"It just seems like a bruised abdomen (for Jack). With internal stuff you just want to get that checked out."
The pair will be monitored overnight with the club to issue an update on Monday.
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