Scott Pendlebury's incredible push to break the AFL games record has taken another turn just days after the timeline was revealed. The Collingwood veteran is set to be rested twice in the coming weeks — against top-eight rivals — to allow him to reach his 433rd game with a home game at the MCG. And he is now in line to wear a guernsey with gold numbers when he does make history.
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The Magpies’ request to do so was approved by the AFL, according to the league’s website, but the “cringe” plan was quickly ridiculed by fans.
“So tacky, sorry I bet Pendles does not want a bar of this crap,” one punter wrote. Another said: “He’s a great player. Super human to still be getting around at 38 but honestly this is embarrassing.” A third wrote: “Someone tell me they’re joking.” Another questioned: “Thought footy was a team sport?????”
Whether Pendlebury goes ahead with the plan remains to be seen.
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Collingwood’s idea to add the gold touch only to his guernsey is a different approach to what North Melbourne took when Brent Harvey broke the previous record in 2016. Harvey’s 427th game was marked with that number appearing in white between the stripes on the front of the guernsey for all Kangaroos players.
The Pies’ plan also comes after a similar play in the NRL earlier this season. South Sydney veteran Alex Johnston broke rugby league’s try-scoring record and returned from the celebrations wearing a new jersey with a gold No.2 and golden embroidered details about the occasion.
Meanwhile, Collingwood coach Craig McRae has already played down his role in managing Pendlebury’s road to the record. An added layer of appreciation for the veteran’s feats in his 21st season came on the back of magnificent 43-disposal best-on-ground performance against Essendon on Anzac Day. But age caught up with him after multiple weeks of higher game time following a slower start to the season. He will sit out this week’s clash with Hawthorn off a five-day break.
“Pendles, funnily enough, had a conversation with him yesterday, and he was pretty keen to miss this game. So he’ll be managed,” McRae said on Tuesday, indicating the rest was planned “to some degree”.
Missing the Hawks game means Pendlebury (431 games) would equal Brent Harvey’s 432-game record against Geelong then break it against the Swans in Sydney. If Pendlebury misses either game, he would be on track to break the record against West Coast at the MCG instead.
Collingwood clearly would want to maximise the fans that could celebrate Pendlebury’s milestone by having him break the record in a home game. But McRae is determined to stick to the football side of things, of which the veteran remains a crucial piece of the puzzle.
“Well, I had some conversations with the executive team about this early days, and truthfully, I said, ‘can you just keep that on the other side of the building? Because we’re here to perform and we just get that right,” McRae said. “And then, obviously, there has to be plans for the future - there has to be because there’s all sorts of things going on behind the scenes to celebrate Pendles, because we don’t want to miss that. Yeah, so let the people do their job and we’ll just live in our space and get our job done.”
Given how well Pendlebury played against Essendon, the Magpies clearly don’t want to be without him too much in a stretch of games against contenders Hawthorn, Geelong and Sydney — and a potential finals campaign beyond that.
“He’s quite unique, because there’s obviously this whole big thing that’s never been done before, so we’re living in that space,” McRae said. “But then there’s like, we’re trying to qualify. And then when we qualify - good, positive language for our fans - when we qualify, we want our best players available. So do you think he can play every week to get to the time of the year when we think we need him most? Well, we’re going to manage that and we’re going to work through that week to week.” - with AAP
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