Golden jumper revealed as Pies, AFL greats gather to begin Pendles party — AFL Daily

It was a sea of black and white at the MCG on Monday as Collingwood players and staff, as well as AFL greats, gathered to begin Scott Pendlebury celebration week.

Plus absent Geelong forward Tyson Stengle has reportedly taken a step in a bid to revive his AFL career. Read on in AFL Daily.

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.

PENDLES’ PROMISE AHEAD OF RECORD-BREAKER

Scott Pendlebury will follow his own advice this weekend.

The Collingwood champion admits the long build-up to his record-breaking 433rd AFL match has challenged his routine.

But Pendlebury insists he will still take a moment to appreciate the occasion when he runs out in front of a packed MCG against West Coast on Saturday afternoon.

“I think one thing I have always done, I appreciate the game for what it is,” Pendlebury said on Monday.

“Every week regardless if it’s this week or not, I always take a moment to look around at the stands, find my family, try and say g’day.

“I always say to the young guys that ever play their first game, one bit of advice from me has got nothing to do with the game because you’re good enough.

“But when you get out here for the first time, look around, take a moment, just to take it all in because it’s pretty cool you’re achieving your dream

“I still like that myself, I still feel like I’m achieving my dream every time I get to come out here.

“There will be a part where I come out here and probably look lost or whatever, but I’ll just be wandering and taking it all in.”

Collingwood has come under fire for its management of Pendlebury’s milestone.

The Magpies drew against Hawthorn and lost by a kick in the two matches they rested their star midfielder.

But Pendlebury remains comfortable with the planned timeline, saying he was a long shot to play against the Hawks regardless of his milestone.

“It’s an interesting one, we planned out at the start of the year a schedule to manage me for the whole season,” Pendlebury said.

“I’ve spoken about this before, but we’ve taken the long view of getting through the whole season. I certainly didn’t plan to have an Achilles injury round 3 or 4.

“There was no chance, it was funny, I think I seen somewhere that I was moving well before the Hawthorn game.

“If you had of seen my GPS and top speed, you would probably run faster than me that day.

“I am comfortable with where it sits and I am really looking forward to Saturday.

— NCA NewsWire

READ MORE:

‘Game over’: Brutal ‘under 12s’ Bombers assessment as damning vision exposes familiar question

Harley’s heroics inspire Eagles as Giants season starts to slip: 3-2-1

‘Blind Freddy can see’: Scott’s blunt response to Bombers crowd question in defiant statement

Saints’ big statement without $2m superstar as Tigers’ injury crisis worsens

POSITIVE STEP IN CATS STAR’S AFL RETURN BID

All-Australian goalsneak Tyson Stengle plans on returning to Cats training next week, having arrived back in Melbourne after spending some time in his home state.

That’s according to SEN’s Tom Morris, who says that while Stengle will need to undergo “several weeks” of conditioning before returning to play, it’s a positive step in the right direction.

The 27-year-old, who took a leave of absence amid a tough time off-field, has yet to play a game this year after appearing in almost every Geelong game across the past two seasons.

“I don’t know exactly what the league has said to Tyson Stengle, but I do know that they stopped him from playing VFL earlier in the season when Chris Scott was quite publicly pushing for him to return to play,” Morris began on SEN Breakfast.

“I can tell you that Stengle is back in Melbourne – he’s been in South Australia seeing family – he’s back this week, and he’s planning to return to training at Geelong as early as next week.

“He would then need to have several weeks of training and conditioning before he can play VFL, but let’s hope this is the first step towards him getting back in the AFL team maybe later on in the season.”

It had previously been reported that Stengle fell out with some in his close support network, while Geelong football boss Andrew Mackie was noncommittal last month when asked about a return timeline for the small forward.

Stengle most recently played in Geelong’s grand final loss to Brisbane last September. He kicked 52 goals in his 2022 All-Australian season as the Cats went on to win the premiership.

WHY ‘OUTWORKED’ HAWKS ARE SET FOR TOUGH WEEK ON TRACK

The Hawks are set for an “uncomfortable session or two” after their disappointing loss to Melbourne on Saturday.

Poor tracking in transition and work rate around the contest in particular were highlighted on Fox Footy’s First Crack.

“They got outworked,” dual flag-winner David King said on Sunday night.

“It doesn’t matter how much vision you want to look at, you could’ve picked 20 passages of play.”

A glaring transition passage saw Melbourne’s Bailey Laurie – who was being tracked by Dylan Moore – make his way all the way down the ground completely unopposed, before being the goalkicking beneficiary after a four-versus-three inside 50.

Another piece of vision showed a defensive-50 contest where Hawthorn had more numbers at the contest yet get beaten by a hungrier Demon, resulting in a Melbourne goal.

“He just strolls through the middle of the ground, basically unopposed, and no one’s really there, you get a simple out-number forward of the ball,” King said.

“That feeds back into your groundball stuff inside the forward 50, but it’s just work rate.

“There’s a little bit of the lack of Barrass not being there, but he doesn’t really affect your work rate.

“So, I’m watching these bits of vision saying ‘look at the numbers’ … it’s all Melbourne. They’re getting there first … and all the (Hawks) sheepdoggers get to the other side, just wanting to herd the pack, not to do the hard work.”

King said the Hawks – who sit 11th and below league average for defending ball movement – had “defensive vulnerabilities”.

“They paid a heavy price when they got things wrong,” he said.

“I’ve got no doubt that Sam Mitchell will have them running this week … just a real attitude-sharpener; there’ll be a session or two that’s uncomfortable for these guys.

Click here to read article