With his long-awaited record 433rd AFL game finally within touching distance, Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury won’t be drawn on whether he sees himself extending his decorated career beyond this season.
Pendlebury will surpass North Melbourne champion Brent Harvey as the outright VFL/AFL games record holder in Saturday’s clash with West Coast at the MCG.
The 38-year-old is off contract at season’s end and yet to decide whether he will attempt to play on.
“I’m not sure. I think if my form’s good enough and my body holds up, that’s a discussion that I’ll have later on in the season,” Pendlebury said.
“But yeah, I feel good, and I’m almost over some niggles that I need to get over. But yeah, feeling good.”
Significant attention has been paid to Collingwood’s management of Pendlebury, which has included resting the veteran in games against Hawthorn and Sydney – both of which the Magpies lost – to ensure he would break the record at home.
“It’s an interesting one. We planned out from the start of the year sort of a schedule to manage me for the whole season,” he said.
“And I’ve spoken about this before, but we’ve taken the long view of getting through the whole season.
“I certainly didn’t plan to have an achilles injury in round three or four, and then have to manage that all the way up until even now.
“It was funny, I think I’ve seen somewhere where it said I was moving well before the Hawthorn game. You haven’t seen my GPS in top speed – you (the journalist) probably would’ve run faster than me that day.
“I’m comfortable with where it sits and I’m really looking forward to Saturday.”
Dual premiership player and six-time best and fairest winner Pendlebury is still eyeing plenty more action this season.
The Magpies (4-1-5) sit 11th but with a draw against Hawthorn and tight losses to Sydney and Fremantle among those results.
“I’m really confident that we can contend,” Pendlebury said.
“We’ve taken it up to a lot of the best sides.
“It’s a long season, there’s still a lot of time to go. But yeah, really confident we’ll be OK.”
Harvey and fellow 400-gamers Michael Tuck, Shaun Burgoyne, Kevin Bartlett and Dustin Fletcher were on hand for Pendlebury’s media event at the MCG on Monday.
Former North Melbourne star Harvey, who broke Hawthorn great Tuck’s 24-year-old record of 426 games in July 2016, said: “It’s a pretty big occasion, and I didn’t think anyone would break my record and I certainly don’t think anyone will break this one.”
Silky-smooth midfielder Pendlebury, who will don a special guernsey with his No.10 in gold for the occasion, said he was unsure whether he would be nervous or how he would reflect on the milestone.
But he planned to soak in yet another major game in front of a bumper MCG crowd.
“There’ll be a part where I come out here, and I probably look lost or whatever, but I’ll just be wandering and just taking it all in,” Pendlebury said.
“I don’t have too many games left, so I’m gonna enjoy them while I can.”
Pendlebury prides himself on his consistency over his long career, and knows how he’ll want to be remembered.
“Just someone that always played for the team, and ultimately was a winner,” he said.
PLAYERS WITH THE MOST VFL/AFL GAMES
* Scott Pendlebury – 432*
* Brent Harvey – 432
* Michael Tuck – 426
* Shaun Burgoyne – 407
* Kevin Bartlett – 403
* Dustin Fletcher – 400
