“On a mission”: What Pendlebury is planning for post playing career

Scott Pendlebury is set to buck the trend of great players heading into the media after their careers, with the Collingwood veteran revealing he wants to go into coaching when he retires.

Pendlebury, 36, played game no.392 in Sunday’s win over West Coast, a clash in which he racked up 28 disposals and five clearances.

Should he remain injury-free, Pendlebury will become the sixth V/AFL player to reach 400 games later in 2024.

Recently-retired greats Joel Selwood, Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt have all taken up roles within the footy media over the last 12 months and while Pendlebury acknowledged there are problems with the assistant coaching pathways, that is the route he wants to follow.

“I think speaking to a lot of people in the industry it’s probably not as attractive as it once was 10 or 15 years ago,” Pendlebury told SEN Breakfast regarding assistant coaching.

“I think the workload is immense… and a lot of these guys are doing a power of work for not much reward. That’s probably why guys aren’t going down that path.

“You look at the amount of people that have gone into the media, probably financially it’s paying a lot better than doing the assistant coaching hours 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 I coach… I love doing that.”

He added: “I love being around the football environment with the young kids and it’s definitely the path I will go down (the question is) just whether I jump into it straight away.”

Pendlebury then hinted he will likely step away from the game temporarily after he retires before moving into a coaching career.

“For me, I think whenever my playing days are over I think I would probably like to step away from the game for a period of time,” he said.

“Whether that’s a year or 18 months, just have a bit of a gap year, go exploring and do some different things because all I’ve known was school first for 17 years and I’ve been at Collingwood for 19 years since then.

“So step away, get a bit of a broader view of the game from the outer circle and even travel, 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 in, I’ll be pretty driven and on a mission to get to where I want to get to.”

As for whether he’ll play on into 2025, Pendlebury said he’s yet to make a decision.

But if his form holds up as it has so far this season, he has every chance to go again.

“I haven’t made my mind up. Our GM (head of footy Graham Wright) is over in Europe at the moment, so it’s hard to get those contract discussions going,” Pendlebury laughed.

“I’ve always said I think if we’re around the mark and chasing and I’ve still got a role that the coaches see that I can fulfil and I’m not holding any youngsters back, then I’ll go on.

“But if I feel like I’m slowing down or holding people back, then it’s a pretty easy discussion. I think I’ve got a pretty good self-awareness of where I’m at and how my body’s feeling and it’ll be ongoing discussions with the club and we’ll be really honest and we’ll make the right call for the footy club.” 

Pendlebury has played every game in 2024 but the Magpies have rested several veterans this season and it is likely the six-time All-Australian will come for a break at some stage this season.

He’s still averaging 20 possessions and four clearances a game playing largely in the midfield.