Leading footy commentator Anthony Hudson said it bluntly as Scott Pendlebury’s historic celebration appeared to go too far.
The Collingwood icon’s 433rd career game mattered so much more than the game of football being played around it as the Magpies claimed a nervy 10-point win over West Coast in front of 90,000 at the MCG.
However, the result still matters.
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Rumblings of unwitting umpire favouritism towards Pendlebury swirled on social media on Saturday, highlighted by one moment where the champion midfielder appeared to get away with a divisive out of bounds ruling.
After a kick towards the boundary line near Collingwood’s forward 50m arc, Pendlebury reached over to snare the bouncing Sherrin as it hit the boundary line.
You can watch the incident in the video player above.
TV cameras appeared to show the ball had crossed the boundary line, but no call was made by three umpires all standing close by with a good view.
“The umpire is umpiring Pendlebury different to everybody else,” Hudson said on Kayo Sports.
“Just hesitated on the whistle because of who it was, not where he was.”
Melbourne Demons legend Garry Lyon joked it was a “Wayne Harmes” moment, referring to the 1979 VFL Grand Final where Harmes famously hit the ball towards goal from the boundary line.
“That was Wayne Harmes like,” he said.
“That was from the third row.”
There were other cases of controversial calls going the way of the Magpies, with some suggestions from fans the calls were made because of the special occasion.
Nick Daicos appeared to have cost Jordan De Goey a goal when he shoved Liam Baker towards the post in an attempt to get De Goey’s kick over the line without being touched.
The call initially went against Daicos, however, the decision was quickly reversed when Reuben Ginbey charged into Daicos to rub it in his face.
Daicos fell to the floor like a bag of spuds.
Hawks legend Jason Dunstall said on Kayo Sports it was a “dumb” act by Gibney.
He also noted Daicos “went down a bit easily”.
There was also controversy surrounding a Josh Daicos handball that ended up resulting in a goal for Roan Steele.
As Daicos slipped in a tackle, the ball came loose when his elbows hit the turf.
Daicos still thumped the ball with his right fist after it had popped into the air out of his left hand before it ended in the hands of Jamie Elliott.
In the end, none of it will be remembered as the day belonged to Pendlebury and the Pies.
The 38-year-old played his 433rd career game in his 21st AFL season, breaking North Melbourne great Brent Harvey’s record of 432 matches set back in 2016.
Pendlebury led the Magpies out onto the field and every Collingwood player wore a guernsey with their number in gold on the back to honour the milestone.
The Collingwood champion had a fairly quiet game by his standards with 20 disposals as Nick Daicos impressed with 34 touches and three goals.
West Coast closed within three points in the last quarter but the Magpies steadied to claim a 13.14 (92) to 12.10 (82) victory, with the 10-point margin fitting for Pendlebury.
The win was soured by a hamstring injury to captain Darcy Moore and a serious knee injury to forward Jamie Elliott, who was stretchered off in the closing stages of the game.
