Scott Pendlebury explains the secrets of his remarkable career and how his wife Alex saved the day from an angry snake
Collingwood star Scott Pendlebury has a fear of snakes, so when his son found himself face to face with an angry python at their quarantine hub it was wife Alex who came to the rescue.
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Scott Pendlebury heard about the snake through his physiotherapist.
The Collingwood captain was only days away from seeing his family for the first time in a month when word filtered through that his wife, Alex, and their two young children had a close encounter in their quarantine hub.
Alex was taking the youngsters for a lap around the lagoon on their hotel ground when their three-year-old son Jax came within a few feet of an angry python.
Thankfully, the man who will on Monday night break Collingwood’s games record isn’t the only quick-thinking one in the family.
On this occasion, it was mum’s reflexes which helped pull their son to safety.
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“I’m petrified of snakes, so I would have reacted horribly,” Pendlebury said.
“Alex didn’t tell me. Our physio said, ‘What’s this about Jax almost jumping on a snake?’. So I called Alex straight away.
“And, yeah, he jumped off the board walk on to a sandcastle that was on the beach and when he hit the sand castle there was this massive python.
“It reared its head straight up at him.
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“Alex launched at him and grabbed him by the arm and ripped him back towards her.
“I probably would have run the other way and left Jax stranded.”
As if transition hub life for mum wasn’t tough enough with two young kids on her own in a hotel room for a fortnight, the snake scare might have tipped most people over the edge.
It is why Pendlebury considers his incredible milestone as much of a team effort as anything else as the Magpies try to overcome a mid-season speed bump to and win a remarkable premiership.
Pendlebury, 32, felt torn about leaving his family behind when the club fled Victoria. He wondered whether he should still be at home too, instead of camped on the other side of the country.
“I wasn’t comfortable doing that (going away) and every day I was trying to get the answers — ‘Can I get my family up or am I going to have to go home?” he said.
“Getting two kids up here and going through 14 days quarantine on her own is an enormous effort just to reunite us as a family.
“So the amount of sacrifices Alex has made, leaving her job in Melbourne to come up here while I train all the time. She hasn’t had a day off in a long time.”
Yet for all the challenges and uniqueness of this season, there is something extraordinarily familiar about Pendlebury’s performances in 2020. The veteran left-footer, even as he becomes the longest-serving Magpie of all-time, is still baulking opponents and hitting targets lace-out like he is in his prime.
In his 15th season, the champion onballer is still a top-10 player in the competition, according to the AFL Coaches Association player of the year leaderboard, and is on track to finish top-three in the club’s best-and-fairest for the 12th time.
So Pendlebury’s games-record story is not that he is still going, it’s that the No.5 draft pick with the Matrix moves is still going so well.
And that is despite the considerable responsibility of locking horns with the opposition’s best player each week, whether it be Marcus Bontempelli, Patrick Cripps or Patrick Dangerfield.
How does the skipper still do it?
Teammates Darcy Moore and Josh Daicos asked the same question on the bus back home from the ground after the Magpies’ win over Gold Coast.
“They started asking questions about my career in footy and what was the hardest part of it all?” Pendlebury said.
“I said, ‘I reckon it’s every year in the off-season knowing the work you’ve got to put in’. Can you do it again, mentally?
“That’s when you are by yourself, no one is watching. Can you make sure you rock up on day one of pre-season in really good condition?
“I said to those boys, ‘I still feel motivated to do that and I feel like that is what gives me the base to have good seasons’.
“Round 1 every single year you are nervous about whether you can you back it up.
“The older you get the bigger those nerves are because you are told once you hit 31 or 32 you should be on the decline. You should be going down. But I want to buck that trend. I
want to keep having good pre-seasons and keep performing.
“I still feel as hungry as ever to get that flag and that is why I do it. That is why I do the
work and that is why I think our group is in a great spot to challenge this year and for many years to come.”
For all of the awards; the five Copeland Trophies, six All-Australians, three Anzac Day medals, a Norm Smith medal and the 2010 premiership, he still has an ache for more success.
And the challenge of taking on the opposition’s biggest threat each week is something that has helped keep him sharp.
As the general of the team, it is an aspect of his leadership which has probably flown under the radar, at times.
“It was something ‘Bucks’ came to me about back at the end of 2016 start of 2017 and is something I’ve really enjoyed,” he said.
“I think when I got tagged and ‘Swanny’ got tagged, I think it makes it easier in a way because you don’t have to do much the other way.
“But I think the guys like Cripps, Bontempelli, (Nat) Fyfe and Dangerfield know they just can’t run their own race (when they match up).
“It is 100 per cent more enjoyable because you see it as a really good battle and if there is a ball there I’m going to try and win it and hurt them with it, rather than scrag them.
“It is high stakes and it has not always been successful, but it is good because those guys know they’re not just going to be sat on all game, and hung on to as well.”
Pendlebury’s phone has lit up all week with well wishes and congratulations from past and current greats as he prepares to surge one game past former premiership captain Tony Shaw.
Sadly, some of the friends and family who would normally attend Monday night’s crunch clash against Port Adelaide won’t be there due to the border shutdown.
Those celebrations can wait.
But all the goosebumps and butterflies will still be there just before the bounce as he laces up with his mates for yet another crucial game on the eve of finals.
It is those precious moments with the team in the locker room just before he runs out and then immediately after a win that he treasures most.
“There are two (really special) parts for me,” he said.
“One just before we run out on to the ground, when we get around all of the boys and just embrace one another and really wish each other luck and hype each other up a bit.
“And the other part is after a win and you sit down and the ice packs go on and you talk about a few of the things that happened in the game.
“They are the great things in the game and a big part of why it is so enjoyable to play.”
RAISE A GLASS FOR 314
Scott Pendlebury’s career has aged like fine wine.
And to celebrate the Collingwood captain’s games played record, 314 bottles of hand harvested Mt Eliza pinot noir have been released to mark the special achievement.
The limited release dedicated to arguably Collingwood’s greatest ever player is available to order online.
“We have done something a little bit different bringing out the 314 bottles and I think it is a cool tribute to the games record,” Pendlebury said.
“I like a good red occasionally and the wine range is something for the fans and members to access and enjoy.”
WHY TOP PIES WILL STAY
Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury says the Magpies have pulled the handbrake on their ball use to sharpen their forward connection late in the season.
Pendlebury will on Monday night will become the club’s longest serving player and captain when he plays his 314th game and 162nd as captain against Port Adelaide at the Gabba and says he feels like he has “years left” left in him.
And in a huge boost for the Magpies, the champion onballer is adamant out-of-contract star pair Darcy Moore and Jordan De Goey will re-sign with the club, likely keeping the Magpies in the premiership frame beyond next season.
De Goey will be the ace in the pack against Port Adelaide after booting four goals in his remarkable comeback win over Gold Coast.
The Magpies have struggled to convert in attack at times this season but Pendlebury said the Pies are more dangerous when they are more careful moving inside 50m.
“Instead of going so fast and trying to get it in there at all costs, we have actually slowed it down a little bit,” Pendlebury said.
“Let’s give our forwards some time to go to work; let’s give them time to isolate themselves a bit better.
“The last kick inside 50m is always the most crucial one. We are just trying to find the right balance between when sides have got back and defended us, and taking our time, and when sides are caught out on the turnover and going quick.
“So I think we have more scoring power in us, but in saying that one of our strengths is our defence and that continues to give us the opportunity to win games of football.
“I feel as confident as I can be in this group that we are hitting our best form at the right time, our injury list is good and we will see how we go.”
De Goey and Moore are yet to recommit but the skipper said all signs pointed to the pair staying at Olympic Park under coach Nathan Buckley.
He said the prospect of on-field success at Collingwood was the biggest carrot for both of his teammates.
“As a bloke who has been around a long time, I couldn’t be more confident that both boys will stay,” he said.
“That’s purely because I see how invested they are, how much those guys run the group and run the club.
“You see at the weekend (against the Suns) Darcy was the dominant defender and Jordy was the dominant forward on the ground.
“They see success with each other staying at this club, and I think both boys will stay which is exciting for everyone.”
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Pendlebury, 32, has already signed for next after accepting a revised deal to help ease pressure on the Magpies’ tight salary cap.
The future AFL Hall of Famer, who has eased some of his fastidious preparations in recent years to juggle the demands of parenthood, said he has had no thoughts of retirement yet.
“I don’t see the end anytime soon,” he said.
“If there is a role for me and my form warrants it I will continue to go.
“At the moment my body feels really good. I feel like I have at least a couple of years left after this one, but I know that can change really quickly.
“My mindset is to keep churning out good off-seasons, good pre-seasons and give yourself the best chance to perform and while you are doing that and your role is valued in the side you have a spot.”
Originally published as Scott Pendlebury explains the secrets of his remarkable career and how his wife Alex saved the day from an angry snake
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