Buckley said the plan was for the 28-year-old to be at peak fitness ahead of this year's finals.

His strong support was in response to talk that Krakouer might have needed to work on his fitness after taking a break.

But Buckley said Krakouer's time away from training had been invaluable.

Krakouer was one of the great AFL stories last year, making his comeback with the Magpies after serving a 16-month jail term in Western Australia for assault.

``You can only be up for so long,'' Buckley said.

``The players still need to be able to fill the tank because by the end of the season, it's empty.

``There's no doubt `Krak' had been up for a long time and he needed to go away and fill the tank a little bit.

``That off-season was really important for him, just to take stock, and he's on the way back and going well.''

Buckley also noted that as soon as competitive ball work had started, Krakouer's competitive instincts had shone through again.

``He is training okay, but he still has a fair bit of work to do,'' Buckley said.

``We have had some boys on restricted programs with injury - he had a few little concerns.

``We want him to play his best footy at the pointy end of the season because that's when he is going to be most important to us.

``He will have a run around in the NAB Cup and he will be up and about for selection, but he's on his own program.

``As soon as you start ball work and scrimmaging he is phenomenal.''

Meanwhile, Buckley has praised two-time All-Australian Alan Didak, saying his preseason had so far been outstanding.

He said there was ``no reason'' why Didak couldn't return to his 2010 form.