Collingwood’s plan to rest Scott Pendlebury for Thursday’s clash with Hawthorn has sparked a huge divide across the AFL.
The 38-year-old icon clinched a record fourth Anzac Medal on Saturday in his side’s 137-60 win over Essendon after racking up a phenomenal 43 disposals and 19 score involvements.
But in doing so he accumulated 83 per cent game time and 92 per cent of the fourth quarter.
According to AFL expert Tom Morris, he is now set to be left out of the Hawthorn game in an attempt to ensure he breaks the VFL/AFL games record against West Coast at the MCG on May 23 in front of a home crowd.
Pendlebury has played 431 games, needing two more to eclipse Brent Harvey.
The plan is reportedly for him to sit out of the Hawthorn and Sydney games either side of the Geelong clash on May 9, before he breaks the record at the G.
This focus on the record has drawn huge criticism from AFL pundit Kane Cornes — who has accused the Pies of prioritising Pendlebury’s personal accolades above the team.
Speaking on Channel 7, he said: “I’m not sure when at Collingwood it became about the individual and not the team. Scott Pendlebury should be playing this week against Hawthorn, they need him to be playing.
“The reason he’s not playing against Hawthorn when they desperately need him is because they cooked him, they absolutely cooked him.
“He was chasing a disposals and Anzac Day Medal record that we all loved and all celebrated — congratulations to him.
“But this is about the team, and Collingwood’s next three weeks — Hawthorn, Geelong and Sydney. Pendlebury is going to be playing in one of those games.
“They’ve beaten St Kilda, Giants, Carlton and Essendon – they’ve beaten no one. He just should be playing this week, they desperately need him against this Hawthorn side.
“But he’s not because he spent five minutes total on the bench in the second half. He’s 38 years old, he should have played – with this game in control at halftime and certainly at three-quarter time — five minutes of the last quarter.
“He spent the most time on the ground other than Nick Daicos, he spent just over two minutes on the bench in the last quarter.
“When has he ever played 92% of a quarter? If they had managed him smartly and played him for 70-80 minutes of the game, he plays this week.”
Collingwood sit eighth in the AFL ladder with four wins and three defeats from their opening seven games.
And Cornes fears poor results during this upcoming run of tough fixtures could prove decisive in their pursuit of the premiership.
“They’re in it to win the premiership now, they cannot win the premiership if they don’t get over Hawthorn, Geelong and Sydney, or at least two of those three,” he added.
“They’ve beaten no one, and he should just be playing this week.
“Of course I do (love the romance of a fourth Anzac Medal), but Pendlebury’s never been a selfish player, it’s always been about the team.
“When’s it ever been about medals or individual disposal records?”
However, some AFL fans have pushed back on Cornes’ view, insisting Pendlebury deserves to break the record in the most fitting way possible.
In response to reports of him being rested against Hawthorn, Jen said: “As expected it would be. Common sense.”
While Jake Flagpies added: “Common sense, would be good and fitting to break Brent Harvey’s all time AFL games record in front of the Magpie Army.”
And Scobey simply reacted: “Common sense prevails.”
