New Collingwood recruit Daniel Wells will finally make his return to football this weekend through the VFL.
Wells moved to the Magpies at the end of last season on a three year deal worth around $1.8 million, but suffered an injury during a VFL intraclub match in February and has been sidelined ever since.
The 32-year-old has progressed well in recent weeks however, and Buckley is confident Wells is in the home straight.
"We're starting to build and there's more competition for spots week on week," Buckley said.
"We'll go in with 43 fit players out of 45 this week, so a tick to the conditioning staff and a quandary for the match committee which is a good problem to have.
"(Wells) has been on a really strong graduated program and the last couple of weeks have been a step up again.
"He'll play VFL this week and in the view to getting him back to full match fitness as quickly as possible.
"We'll have a call to make beyond that, but that will come down to performance of players in the senior side in the next week or two, his individual performance and clearly his fitness.
"It's been really strong gains over the last month and we've been really encouraged by it and we look forward to taking the next step."
Jordan De Goey will also return through the VFL this weekend, as returning from a broken hand.
De Goey will serve the first match of his club-imposed three-match ban after failing to tell the truth surrounding his hand injury.
