Scott Pendlebury plays game 400 today, a monumental achievement in any era and firmly ensconcing him among the greats at Victoria Park. From a list management point of view, though, does the fact that Collingwood still relies so heavily on him mask some deficiencies that the club would be unwise to delay facing by giving him another contract? It's the dilemma that Hawthorn had with Michael Tuck and North with Brent Harvey, that they needed to move on from their seemingly ageless legend and give kids a go. They might lose Finlay Macrae if they honour Pendles any more.
Scott Pendlebury plays game 400 today, a monumental achievement in any era and firmly ensconcing him among the greats at Victoria Park. From a list management point of view, though, does the fact that Collingwood still relies so heavily on him mask some deficiencies that the club would be unwise to delay facing by giving him another contract? It's the dilemma that Hawthorn had with Michael Tuck and North with Brent Harvey, that they needed to move on from their seemingly ageless legend and give kids a go. They might lose Finlay Macrae if they honour Pendles any more.
Scott Pendlebury was not the only Collingwood player to have a quiet one last week in their dismantling by GWS, but he was the worst of them. Two touches to half time from a surprisingly low game time, and some fantasy coaches might have been writing his footy obituary. He recovered somewhat in the second half, but there are some serious question marks about premiership hangover on this team, and Pendles' lack of influence was the most obvious red flag. Not that he's particularly relevant himself... but maybe he should give some juicy rookies a try in the seniors?
Scott Pendlebury has been asked to play a half back role for most of this season in his twilight, yet it was his return to midfield that sparked the Magpies to defeat the old enemy in last week's Anzac Day clash. Daily fantasy coaches will be keen to learn if this is a permanent reversion of Pendles' role or whether he will line up on a flank once again in the Gold Coast game today. He can score in any position, really, but his ceiling is certainly higher when starting in the pivot, even against the highly-rated Suns engine room.
Scott Pendlebury has made his way into a lot of fantasy teams this week as coaches look for value in their best 18 on the run home. He is now settled into a half back role, using his natural talents of positioning, poise and accumulation to bring the footy out of defence multiple times per quarter. Collingwood's midfield is in transition and Pendles looms as a late-season analogue of Aaron Hall, who similarly has a lot of work to do rebounding a footy that pings inside defensive 50 a lot from an engine room dominated more often than not by the opposition.
Scott Pendlebury breaks the games record for Collingwood tonight, and putting to one side his glittering career in real football, he has always been of some use in fantasy football as well. They don't call him Dependlebury for nothing, and even at this dappled stage of the twilight of his footy life he has put up some very nice scores in his role sweeping behind centre and providing poise and drive. A champion in every sense of the word, plenty of fantasy coaches will want him to go around again as he is still very startable in most sizes of draft league.
Pendles' perfect 10
Stand and applaud, folks: a perfect 10 seasons of 100+ fantasy scores for Scott Pendlebury. Not even Gary Ablett jnr can boast that incredible feat. Now a silver fox of the AFL, Scott Pendlebury dominated again in the Collingwood midfield with his teammates searching for his silky distribution. A drop in tackles was compensated with an increase in marks, indicative of his extra minutes spent across the half back line compared to seasons gone by. Pendlebury seems to only be getting better with age so don't let that daunting age-30 hurdle scare you off. He'll be leading from the front and if he's not chalking up the disposals in the centre, he'll be a key distributor, lining up a kick behind the ball and racking them up there instead. Take Pendlebury early for a worry-free mid, with the tantalising prospect of adding dual eligibility if his heat map drifts even further towards defensive 50 as the season wears on.
Scott Pendlebury is at the age where fantasy coaches tend to look elsewhere for upside, because his finest years are probably behind him, or at best he'll maintain his previously decent level of scoring. Pendles has bucked the trend with a late rally in his averages, perhaps not quite at the levels of Matthew Richardson in days of yore but still very impressive in a Collingwood midfield brimming with fantasy studs. He used to be nicknamed Dependlebury, and he might start copping that nickname a bit more if his current vein of form holds in the second half of 2019.
Pendles burns lower
In a glittering career now stretching into its 14th year, Scott Pendlebury showcases reliability and consistency like very few other AFL players. He has averaged over 100 points every year from 2010, even though 2018 proved to be his lowest fantasy season since then. The five-time Collingwood best and fairest took fewer marks and favoured handballing over kicking, with his lowest tally by foot since 2008. The five-time All Australian played off half back at times throughout 2018, and with the injection of Dayne Beams into the Pies’ midfield, it looms likely that Nathan Buckley may play his captain in that role again at stages though the season. Pendlebury’s teammates want the ball in his hands due to his elite disposal, but now on the wrong side of 30, it appears as if he won’t reach that same great heights as years gone by. A solid pick in the early rounds, but should not be the first Magpie picked.
Scott Pendlebury takes the field this evening with not much to worry about from the opposition, as Gold Coast aren't much chop. He may end up getting tagged by Touk Miller, though, as the demise of Adam Treloar means he is probably the most damaging mid at Collingwood. He has lost a fair bit of currency in fantasy coaching circles with the onset of age in footballer terms, though in games like this he can usually live up to his old nickname of Dependlebury.
Pendles gets jacked up
Scott Pendlebury hit two milestones midway through 2017: his 250th game, and his first child. His form dropped away slightly after baby Jax was born, suffering under a few tags, and a finger injury ended his season early. Before that, he had produced at about the same level as he had since his fifth year in 2010, somewhere near 30 touches a week with a lot of tackles. Pendlebury hits 30 before the season starts, but that's not much of a hindrance to modern midfielders and he should get 30 or thereabouts yet again. The tags tend to go to Adam Treloar and Steele Sidebottom more often, and when he's not dog-tired from daddy duties he's good enough to break them anyway. Draft him early with confidence.
Pendlebury holds a candle
Scott Pendlebury has had a slow start to the season after many expected him to improve on his 98.3 average last year. His kick-to-handball ratio has been frustrating for his Dream Team owners who see handball after handball with kicks far and few between. Just imagine how many extra points he could accumulate if only those handballs turned into kicks!
However in recent weeks, his output has been very promising with three consecutive tons. Perhaps the consistency we had all been hoping for has finally arrived. Pendles is finally repaying the faith of his buyers and he has even snuck into the top 10 DT rankings. If his form continues, he could soon compare to the likes of Ablett and Swan.
Being priced at around $450k at the start of the season, the likes of Joel Selwood, Matthew Boyd and Sam Mitchell were around that price range but for now, he looks like the pick of the crop.
