It will come as a surprise to few, but Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury has confirmed he plans to pursue AFL coaching after he retires from playing.
The former Magpies skipper is closing in on becoming just the sixth player in VFL/AFL history to break the magical 400-game barrier and, with another 28 disposals in game 392 against West Coast on Sunday, is showing no signs of slowing down just yet.
But he has already begun to take steps towards a career in coaching when his playing days finally do come to an end, having deputised Essendon goalkicking great Matthew Lloyd as an assistant coach at Haileybury College for the past couple of years.
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Already seen as effectively an on-field coach, Pendlebury has been one of the great leaders of the modern game, not least during his 206 games as Collingwood skipper.
Speaking to SEN on Monday morning, Pendlebury confirmed he would formally pursue a career in coaching whenever he calls time on his illustrious career.
But it won’t necessarily be immediately after finishing.
“That’s my passion; I love being around the football environment with the young kids trying to get better with those guys,” he said.
“It’s definitely the path that I will go down, it’s just whether I jump into it straight away.
“Whenever my playing days are over, I think I’d probably like to step away from the game for a period of time — whether that’s a year or 18 months — and just have a bit of a gap year and go explore and do some different things.
“Because all I’ve known is school first for 17 years, and I’ve been at Collingwood for 19 years since then.
“(I want to) step away and probably get a bit of a broader view of the game from the outer circle, and even travel and go look at soccer, NFL, basketball, other sports around the world and then come back in really fresh.
“Because I feel like I’m the sort of guy that once I come back I’ll be pretty driven and on a mission to get to where I want to get to.”
Pendlebury is passionate about coaching and will be likely in-demand by all 18 clubs when he becomes available.
But he is of a dying breed, and understands why former players are becoming more drawn to things like media when their playing days are done, given the cuts to AFL clubs’ soft caps since the pandemic.
“I think from speaking to a lot of people in the industry, it’s probably not as attractive as it once was, say 10-15 years ago,” Pendlebury said.
“To be brutally honest, I think financially, with the (reduced) soft cap, it’s taken a massive hit. A lot of these guys (assistant coaches) are doing a power of work for not much reward. So, that’s probably why guys aren’t going down that path.
“And you look at the amount of people that have gone into the media because, probably financially, it’s paying a lot better than doing the assistant coaching hours that these guys put in.
“But then it comes back to your passion as well, and my passion is in coaching. Even coaching the school footy kids that I coach, and I love doing that and turning up for training and working with ‘Lloydy’ as well, and guys like that.”
Barring injury or suspension (he has never been suspended) the 36-year-old, Pendlebury is on track to equal Dustin Fletcher on 400 games in Round 18 against Geelong.
If he played every game for the rest of the home and away season without being rested, he would reach 406. With the Pies likely to play finals, he could get even further.
From there, the five-time Copeland Trophy winner would be within a full season (plus finals) of VFL/AFL games record-holder, Brent Harvey, whose record of 432 had looked insurmountable.
But that’s all assuming that he even plays on next year.
“I haven’t made my mind up,” Pendlebury said on his prospects of playing in 2025.
“Our GM (Graham Wright) is over in Europe at the moment, so it’s hard to get those contract discussions going.
“I’ve always said, I think if we’re around the mark and we’re chasing and I’ve still got a role that the coaches see that I can fulfill, and I’m not holding any youngsters back, then I’ll go on. But if I am, and they feel like I’m slowing down or I’m holding people back, well then it’s a pretty easy discussion.
“And I think I’ve got a pretty good self awareness of where I’m at and how my body is feeling.
“It will be just ongoing discussions with the club, and we’ll be really honest, and we’ll make the right call for the footy club.”
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