Wild 36-year gap that sums up the enormity of Scott Pendlebury's career ahead of record breaking afternoon
When Scott Pendlebury runs out onto the MCG for game 433 on Saturday afternoon and breaks the V/AFL record, he will face off against 18-year-old Willem Duursma, who was born in June of 2007.
The Collingwood legend himself meanwhile made his debut in 2006, a full year before Duursma was born.
And in round six of the 2006 season, Pendlebury came up against St Kilda's Robert Harvey, who was born in August of 1971. Harvey himself would later coach Pendlebury at the Pies.
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Collingwood assistant coach Robert Harvey looks on as Scott Pendlebury trains. Getty
Across the span of his 20-year career, the 38-year-old will have faced off against players born a ridiculous 36 years apart. A fact that is hard to fathom.
According to the club itself, Pendlebury has played against 136 players who were drafted before the year 2000.
In his debut game, in 2006 against Brisbane, Pendlebury took on Michael Voss, Simon Black, Jason Akermanis and the final years of some of the triple-premiership Lions' greatest players.
And debuted alongside Collingwood legends like Nathan Buckley, Scott Burns, Anthony Rocca and Alan Didak. Buckley had 29 touches and kicked six goals in that game, just quietly.
Pendlebury, who was taken with pick five in the 2005 draft, is the only player remaining from his draft class. No.1 overall pick Marc Murphy retired in 2021 after his own lengthy and esteemed career.
On top of that, there are no remaining players from the 2006 draft, following the retirements of Todd Goldstein and Travis Boak in 2025.
Only two players remain from 2007 (Patrick Dangerfield and Taylor Walker), two from 2008 (Steele Sidebottom and Rhys Stanley) and two from 2009 (Jack Gunston and Max Gawn).
Pendlebury has effectively outlasted the entirety of his own draft class, and the four that followed, such is his remarkable longevity.
Scott Pendlebury back in 2006. Getty
He will soon cross 11,000 total career disposals, the most of any player in V/AFL history, and nearly 2000 ahead of Robert Harvey in second and Brent Harvey in third. He's had 800 more handballs than anyone in history, laid 200 more tackles and had more uncontested possessions and goal assists than anyone who has played the game.
What's remarkable is Pendlebury hasn't limped to the line here. He won the Anzac Day Medal only a month ago against Essendon, finishing with a career high 43 disposals.
On multiple occasions this season he has been Collingwood's highest ranked player in a match, which says a lot about the veteran midfielder.
Collingwood premiership captain Nick Maxwell summed up the Pendlebury experience succinctly.
"Elite consistency is what comes to mind," Maxwell told 3AW.
"I think what he's done over such a long period of time is just unrivalled. I think he's finished 15 or 16 times top three in the best and fairest.
"A lot of people have great seasons and great four or five year spans, but to have been doing this as long as he is just incredible.
"You just know what you're going to get with him every game and that probably does (make people underestimate him). Some players might come out and get 40 touches and kick three goals, but he might be just below that in terms of a spike game, but he does it every single week.
Scott Pendlebury, featuring dreadlocks, tackled by Travis Boak in 2011. Getty
"When you see it for so long you almost get bored of it. People talk about 'how has he done this for so long', it's all the boring stuff. All the one percenters. I haven't seen anyone go about it as professionally as he has, just looking after his body and the amount of time he spends on that."
The final big question for Collingwood and Pendlebury is where he sits all-time in their playing hierarchy.
He has a case for being the greatest ever player in the storied history of the club, though it's impossible to compare him to the likes of Gordon and Syd Coventry, Bob Rose or Len Thompson from completely different eras, but he sits comfortably alongside legends like Buckley, Tony Shaw and Peter Daicos.
Buckley and Daicos may have had higher peaks, as Maxwell alluded to above, but Pendlebury's elite consistency across 20 seasons is hard to ignore.
The 38-year-old has finished top two in the club's best and fairest 11 times in that span. If not for the club managing his body through this season, he might have been able to do so yet again.
Geelong assistant coach Nathan Buckley and Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury in 2026. via Getty Images
Pendlebury hasn't ruled out playing on in 2027 and potentially chasing 450 games, which would put the record well out of reach for any contenders down the line.
He already works as an assistant coach for Haileybury College under Matthew Lloyd and has long been tipped as a future AFL head coach.
Whether he starts that journey in 2027 or pushes on to play another dozen games, it's simply pretty incredible that such a decision remains genuinely feasible as he approaches 40.
Saturday will be all about him, much has been made of that. Fox Footy will even have a 'PendlesCam' following him throughout the match against West Coast.
Given this record may never fall again, it's certainly worth the fanfare.
