The departure of one former Collingwood captain raises the question of whether his predecessor as captain, Nathan Buckley, holds onto his job in charge of the Magpies.

The out-of-contract assistant coach is understood to have agreed to join the Hawks and informed football manager Geoff Walsh and coach Nathan Buckley this week.

Like most of Collingwood's assistant coaches, Burns was out of contract and had been advised, like all coaches there, that as yet they could not be offered a new contract and so were free to explore their options at other clubs. Under the AFL Coaches association rules, clubs had to inform their assistant coaches by August 1 if they had a contract for next year.

Walsh this week delivered a review of Collingwood's football department to the Collingwood board with Buckley's future a central focus of the review.

Other areas such as recruiting and list management, the structure of the department, resourcing, high performance and development are all also subject to the review.

The out-of-contract coach is still yet to be told if he will be reappointed to coach next year.

An announcement on his future is expected soon after the last game.

Given that none of the Collingwood coaches - save for the contracted Brenton Sanderson and Bradley Gotch - have been guaranteed to be at Collingwood next year, one option raised should Collingwood choose to retain Buckley would be to change many of the people around Buckley.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has suggested the only reason to sack a coach was if he had completely lost the faith of his players.

"If I thought that sacking Nathan Buckley tomorrow would get us an extra kick he'd be gone in a heartbeat," he told WA TAB Radio. He added: "The only time that you sack a coach is if you've lost the players completely or there is something untoward that needs to be addressed."

The Burns move to Hawthorn comes as Cameron Bruce has shifted from Hawthorn, where he worked in development and then assistant coaching after retiring as a Hawthorn player in 2012.

Bruce will work in a strategy and analytics role at Carlton with Brendon Bolton, with whom he worked closely when the Carlton coach was at the Hawks.

Hawthorn and Collingwood declined to comment on the Burns move until both teams had completed their seasons.