How stunning Suns move could become ultimate piece of Pendlebury’s legacy
Scott Pendlebury’s decision to leave Collingwood after 21 seasons in the black and white has stunned the football world in the wake of their season ending on Friday night.
The all-time V/AFL games record holder has put together one of the game’s great CVs, captaining the Pies for nearly a decade, winning two premierships, one Norm Smith Medal, six All-Australian blazers and five best and fairests.
Scott Pendlebury breaking the all-time games record in 2026. Getty
But now, he will finish his career at the Gold Coast Suns, reportedly accepting a two-year deal that will then transition into a two-year assistant coaching contract.
Collingwood was uncertain as to whether to give the 38-year-old a contract for 2027, which allowed Gold Coast to swoop in with their all-in offer.
It could become a legacy defining move for Pendlebury, if he is able to lead the Suns to their inaugural premiership or at least see them rise to the rank of contenders for the first time in the club’s history.
Gold Coast was the single most disappointing team of 2026. After winning a final last year and adding Melbourne star Christian Petracca, to go with nine first round picks in three seasons, they were tipped to be among the premiership favourites this season.
After an undefeated first three weeks, the Suns were outright premiership favourites, but fell into a tailspin in the second half of the year, winning just two of their last 10 games and finishing 13th.
Their leadership was heavily questioned. Noah Anderson is a young captain, while Petracca and rising midfielder Leo Lombard went at it on field in an ugly verbal battle.
Star defender Mac Andrew and troubled forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan were caught up in an incident of their own during State of Origin.
Coach Damien Hardwick seemed to struggle to handle the slump, calling out his players and declaring their season over before it actually was.
Now, Pendlebury walks into the building and will hope to provide the settling voice that takes a young, talented list and gives them the recipe for real success.
His impact from a playing standpoint will be particularly interesting, given he was still excellent for Collingwood in patches this season, but was never going to hold up over 24 games.
Pendlebury will likely play as many matches as he can, certainly to cross the 450-game mark, but will the Suns take him to Geelong, Hobart, Darwin, Norwood, Canberra or the many other places they are usually fixtured for? Venues he never got near as a Magpie.
What he will bring to the table aside from the on-field is decades of experience, standards and knowledge of what it takes to reach the pinnacle of performance.
This will likely mirror what Luke Hodge achieved at Brisbane across 2018 and 2019.
The four-time premiership Hawk changed his mind on retirement to play two seasons with the Lions under coach Chris Fagan, setting standards and building up young players.
Brisbane hasn’t looked back since, winning the last two premierships and remaining in contention across the 2020s.
Pendlebury missed the Wildcard Round loss to the Bulldogs with a knee injury. Getty Images
An hour down the highway from the Lions, Gold Coast has not been the expansion success the AFL would have wanted. One finals appearance in 15 years about sums it up.
They dragged Hardwick out of Richmond to help turn things around, gave them every possible draft concession imaginable and then star players like Christian Petracca and Daniel Rioli were recruited from Victorian powerhouses.
And yet it still crumbled in 2026, like it has for the Suns many times over.
The question now is whether Pendlebury can be the cherry on top that completes the Gold Coast sundae.
Or will it simply go down as a weird piece of trivia in the story of his remarkable career.
