NATHAN Buckley is a thoughtful man. He once told me that I overrated talent in my sports writing at the expense of ability. Talent, he said, is a natural gift. What was more important, in his view, was the ability to produce talent exactly when it is required.

Next Wednesday night, at Buckley's testimonial dinner, a portrait of the 2003 Brownlow medallist by South Australian artist Robert Hannaford will be auctioned. Hannaford, known as Alfie, has won the People's Choice Award in the Archibald Prize three times and the prestigious Doug Moran award for portraiture in 1990.

The idea of Buckley being painted by a recognised artist came from Buckley's manager Craig "Ned" Kelly during talks with the Collingwood Football Club. Ned grew up on a farm down the road from Alfie near Riverton in South Australia. Alfie and his brothers played footy in the SANFL with Port Adelaide. Alfie's football career ended when he was 19 and got a job as a cartoonist, but he has the blunt manner Port Adelaide was famous for in his playing days four decades ago.

Asked what he talked to Buckley about while painting him, Hannaford replied, "Football, sport and philosophy. He's got a brain in his head." Hannaford's painting of Buckley is a strong portrait in the tradition of other paintings of club greats like Jock McHale and Bob Rose to be seen at Collingwood's headquarters. It's male, heroic and Collingwood. If the painting lacks anything, it's the humor that Buckley didn't show on the field but is rarely without off it. And his relentlessly analytical nature.

Buckley stood for 18 hours for the painting. "I've never been much of an arty person. I've never paid a lot of attention to pieces of art. Every now and then something will take my attention, usually a piece of architecture, and I'll think, 'That's really clever'. But I always think about the person who made the art. I'm more of a people person than an object person."

Buckley says he found the process fascinating. What he was watching for was "the impetus and the passion that goes into creating something really worthwhile". Two hours passed, says Buckley, "and Alfie hadn't so much as scratched a piece of charcoal on paper. He hadn't said much either. Generally, I was speaking to him." What Buckley then saw unfold was what he calls "the process".

Buckley doubts he himself would be a very good painter. "I'd rub out what I'd done nine times out of 10 — not happy with this, not happy with that. My impression was that it didn't deter Alfie if not every brush stroke was perfect. He just kept moving towards his goal. Through the whole process he had the end-point in mind."

Buckley says he learnt that "art isn't just about the art itself. It's about the process. It's all based on solid groundwork." That's how he reckons it has to be in AFL footy — that what he calls "the flair and the uncontrolled" have to be grounded in solid preparation. I suggest we have returned to our previous discussion about talent and ability. He agrees. "You look for the things that justify the way you think things should be done." I look at the portrait and see a future Collingwood coach.