Despite having dazzled some basketball scouts in his junior days, Collingwood’s midfield maestro says he’s always been “a footy head”.
“Don’t tell me the score,” the passionate LA Lakers fan quickly said down the phone.
He’d missed watching the game live. A training appointment at Gosch’s Paddock had meant he hadn’t been able to catch the game.
Despite his obvious enthusiasm for his old sport, his passion now lies with an oval ball and with a club completely different to the one he grew up supporting.
“I was a crazy Melbourne supporter,” Pendlebury recalled.
“Even when I didn’t play the game I was a very keen Melbourne supporter for as long as I can remember, and then I got drafted.
“But I always knew every player in the league and, I guess like most kids do now, I looked up to all the AFL players.”
Given he played basketball at a national level at under-18 and under-20 level, it’s worth remembering just how far the 21-year-old has come in a relatively short time.
Watching him cut a swathe through traffic on the football field, one can see the basketball background but easily forget it wasn’t all that long ago he was actually strutting his stuff on the hardwood.
Today, after 64 matches of AFL footy, Pendlebury’s ability on the football field is unquestioned. However what is still unknown is just how good the kid from Sale might yet become.
Elevated to his club’s leadership group this season, those at the Lexus Centre have few doubts. Why else would the club have selected a kid who had primarily played basketball with the No.5 pick in the 2005 draft?
The signs were there early that he was going to be something special. Then, in his second season he very nearly won the NAB Rising Star award – pipped only by a freak from Geelong named Joel Selwood.
But perhaps it has been this season where Pendlebury’s influence has really become apparent.
Collingwood hasn’t been flying. Nathan Buckley is long gone and former skipper Scott Burns also hung up his boots at the end of last year.
The Magpies knew they’d need their next batch to continue to develop, and Pendlebury hasn’t let them down.
In fact many would say he’s taken his game to a whole new level this season.
Pendlebury, a $21 Brownlow medal chance, has touched the ball more times than any other player.
His 273 possessions have come at an average of more than 30 per match – as opposed to the 23 he was regularly gathering last season.
And while Pendlebury rightly points out that disposals shouldn’t be the sole indicator by which a performance is rated, it’s difficult to ignore his numbers.
“I think one of the Geelong guys, maybe Jimmy Bartel, said that 30 has become the new 20 in terms of possessions and I tend to agree with him,” Pendlebury said.
“Geelong has high-400 possessions a game so if a team’s having that many possessions then someone’s got to have a fair bit of the ball.
“In terms of disposals it’s what you do with them. You can get a lot of easy football but if you hurt the opposition with your possessions, then they’re the ones that count.”
Using the football well isn’t an issue for the hard-working Pie. His disposal efficiency is above 80 per cent – slightly above last season’s output – while his pre-season pledge to up the ante around the stoppages has also come to fruition.
“I spend a lot of time in the midfield and I just wanted to be a lot stronger around the contest and win a lot more contested footy than what I had in the past,” he said.
This year Pendlebury is averaging 9.3 contested possessions a match (as opposed to 7.1 last year) and almost six clearances a game (3.1 in 2008).
While all the figures support the argument that he’s taking big steps, the man himself just wants to continue his development.
“Every year you want to improve and I’ve improved in those areas in the first nine rounds but hopefully I’ve got another 15, 16 weeks of improvement left to go,” he said.
