Pendles Down: Footy Without Him Just Doesn’t Feel Right

You never want to write a column like this one. Scott Pendlebury, our games record holder, the bloke who’s been the beating heart of this footy club for going on eighteen years, has done his hamstring and the whisper is it could be season over – maybe career over.

Carn the Pies, sure. But today’s a day for a lump in the throat first.

What actually happened

The details are still filtering through and I’m not going to pretend I’ve got scans in front of me. What we know is Pendlebury pulled up with a hamstring complaint and the early signs aren’t good. When a 36 year old footy genius does a hammy, you don’t need to be a physio to know that’s not a quick turnaround.

The club will manage this the way they manage everything with Pendles – carefully, respectfully, no rush to put a timeline on it publicly. And fair enough too. This bloke has earned the right to go out on his own terms, not on some reporter’s deadline.

The games record holder deserves better than this

Think about what this bloke has given us. Premiership captain. Best and fairest winner more times than I can count on two hands. The most games played in the history of our competition, VFL and AFL combined.

He should be walking out the door with a guard of honour and a Sherrin under each arm, not sitting in a rehab room wondering if his last kick has already happened without anyone realising it at the time.

Thats footy for you though isn’t it? Cruel as anything. No respect for how you finish, only for how you played.

Is this actually it?

Nobody at Collingwood is saying the C word out loud yet – retirement – and good on them for that. Pendlebury deserves the dignity of making that call himself, in his own time, without a pack of journos putting words in his mouth.

But lets be honest with each other. He’s 36. The body doesn’t lie forever. If this hamstring is as serious as the early noise suggests, you have to wonder whether he laces the boots up again at AFL level.

I’ve seen blokes come back from worse. I’ve also seen blokes for whom the injury was just the universe tapping them on the shoulder and saying mate, you’ve given it everything, time to sit down. Only Pendles knows which one this is.

What it means for the list right now

Setting the emotion aside for a second – and I know that’s hard when we’re talking about arguably the greatest Magpie of the modern era – this is a real footy problem for Craig McRae and the coaching group.

Pendlebury this year has still been doing things at training and in patches of games that blokes half his age can’t manage. His footy IQ alone is worth a start in the midfield brigade most weeks. Losing that experience, that composure through the middle of the ground, that ability to slow a game down when it’s getting away from us – that’s not something you replace by picking the next bloke on the list.

Collingwood’s midfield has depth, don’t get me wrong. But depth isn’t the same as class, and Pendlebury at even 70 per cent still brings a level of footy smarts that younger blokes are still learning.

• Who takes on the extra midfield minutes week to week?
• Does this speed up opportunities for some of our developing kids?
• How does the leadership group adjust without his calm head in the rooms?

These aren’t small questions with finals footy on the line either way this season.

The bigger picture beyond the footy

Here’s the thing about Pendlebury that I reckon gets lost sometimes in all the games-record talk and the stats and the highlight reels. He’s genuinely loved at this footy club. Not just respected – loved.

Teammates rave about him. Past players talk about him like he’s a mentor as much as a great player. The membership base, and I count myself in that, has watched this bloke grow from a skinny kid with silky hands into the elder statesman of the entire competition.

If this is how it ends, quietly, with a hamstring twinge rather than a grand final lap, that’s going to sting for a long time. Footy fans, and Collingwood fans especially, like our champions to get the send-off they deserve. A Bat-day. A guard of honour. A standing ovation as he comes off for the last time knowing it’s the last time.

Instead we might get a medical update on a Thursday afternoon and that’s it. Definately not the way any of us would have scripted it.

What Collingwood fans should do now

Honestly? Just appreciate whatever we get. If he plays again this year, savour every single touch. If he doesn’t, then we should be thanking this bloke loudly and often for everything he’s given the jumper.

Should we panic about the finals fallout? A bit, yeah, because premierships don’t come around every year and losing a player of Pendlebury’s calibre for a run home is a genuine blow. But that panic should sit well behind the gratitude.

This club doesn’t get to have a Scott Pendlebury very often. Most clubs never get one at all. Whatever happens with this injury, whatever he decides about his future, he’s already given Collingwood more than most players give in two careers combined.

The waiting game

For now we wait. The club will do their scans, get their advice, and Pendlebury will do what Pendlebury has always done – make the right call for himself and for the team, in that order or the other, only he really knows.

I just hope whatever happens, he gets the send off he deserves. This footy club owes him that much. Every Collingwood supporter does too.

Carn the Pies. And carn Pendles, whatever comes next.