Pendlebury’s cheeky dig at Dangerfield caught on live mic

Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury has found a way around the AFL’s new umpire crackdown with a sly dig at Patrick Dangerfield.

Pendles speaks to Nick Brown.

The AFL has cracked down on umpire treatment in 2022, but that didn’t stop Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury from putting a cheeky question to official Nick Brown in Saturday night’s clash against Geelong.

Patrick Dangerfield kicked a crucial goal late in the second term to give the Cats their first lead of the contest after being awarded a 50 metre penalty for getting blocked off the play by Brayden Maynard.

While Dangerfield was lining up at goal, Pendlebury was heard on the umpire mic suggesting to Brown that the Geelong superstar may have accentuated the contact.

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“Is there a fine for staging?” Pendlebury asked Brown.

To which the whistleblower replied: “I’ll leave upstairs to worry about that on Monday mate.”

Channel 7 commentator Hamish McLachlan had no issues with the exchange.

“Clever from Pendlebury. It was just a really nice question that said everything,” he said.

Speaking on AFL Media’s The Round So Far, Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes didn’t think Dangerfield had anything to answer for.

“There’s no staging, it’s clear contact from Maynard, there’s an arm grab,” he said.

“Yes, Patrick Dangerfield exaggerated contact. We’ve already seen that with a couple (instances) this year, because there’s been contact, they’ve allowed that to play.

“Pendlebury was quite respectful, so I thought the interaction between Pendlebury and the umpire was fine.”

Originally published as Pendlebury’s cheeky dig at Dangerfield caught on live mic