Scott Pendlebury says Collingwood players celebrated the 2010 flag for most of the 2011 season

SCOTT Pendlebury has revealed Collingwood players celebrated the 2010 premiership for most of 2011, and into 2012 as well, and laments the “one that got away”.

Mick Malthouse with Scott Pendlebury after the 2011 Grand Final.

COLLINGWOOD captain Scott Pendlebury has revealed Magpies players celebrated the 2010 premiership long into the 2011 season and ultimately played a role in costing the club back-to-back flags.

As talk of a Western Bulldogs premiership hangover continues to dominate after the Bulldogs fell outside the top eight with a loss to Melbourne last Sunday, Pendlebury says the Magpies suffered their own post-premiership issues that weren’t so obvious on the surface.

While the coaching succession plan as Mick Malthouse prepared to hand over to Nathan Buckley dominated headlines at the time, Pendlebury said it was a combination of partying and a short off-season that resulted in “one that got away”.

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The players had just over a month off after the Grand Final replay before jetting to Arizona for a pre-planned training camp.

“We got to Arizona and we were flying already, guys were still really fit just from the season gone,” he said on the Jock and Journo podcast.

“We came into that (2011) season absolutely flying, we were so ready to go and by the back end of that year we were probably burnt out a little bit from playing and off the field guys certainly enjoyed themselves for the majority of every weekend that you could get out, guys were going out.

Collingwood players with the 2010 premiership cup.

“(We) celebrated the 2010 premiership for most of 2011 as well.

“On-field probably masked a few of those issues because we were playing such good football but towards the end of the year we were getting a bit banged up with injuries and things like that.

“Guys for us were celebrating for so long, like 2011 and probably still (into) 2012.”

Collingwood appeared on the verge of a dynasty after its 2010 triumph, breaking the club’s 20-year premiership drought with the youngest team since 1978 (average age of 24.17).

The Magpies lost just three games in 2011 — all to Geelong — but battled injuries to key players and the suspension of Heath Shaw for gambling in the second half of the season.

But when asked whether the players went too far with their celebrations, Pendlebury said: “Definitely I think we did.

“It was such a sense of relief for a lot of the guys when we won the flag. It’s everyone’s dream. You’ve had this hunger, you wanted to climb the mountain so to speak and we’d finally done it.

“It’s safe to say the next few weeks after that we certainly enjoyed ourselves.

“If you had your time again would guys have gone out as much? But it’s hard to say because we got 2010 and guys celebrated that and enjoyed that.

“Looking back I reckon a lot of the group would feel like it was a missed opportunity in 2011.

“For me it’s one that got away.

Mick Malthouse and Scott Pendlebury after the 2011 Grand Final loss.

“I think we could have got there (won back-to-back) but as I said though one of the things was that we were a little bit burnt out by the end of the year because we didn’t get that much of a break.

“It’s disappointing but anyone who has played in a Grand Final and lost would say they feel like it’s one that got away because to get there it’s obviously a super effort.”