Scott Pendlebury (Silk)

[sherrife]

Maybe jokes about rape aren't the best idea...

[Ev5Magpies]

N almost four decades as a player and coach, Mick Malthouse has rarely seen the qualities possessed by Scott Pendlebury.

Playing beyond his age and experience, Pendlebury, 20, a 50-game Magpies midfielder, is a vital link in a team often criticised for a lack of output in its engine room.

He will be pivotal tomorrow night when the seventh-placed but in-form Collingwood meet the struggling, sixth-placed Swans at Telstra Dome in a match which will decide much about both teams' finals aspirations.

"He's one of these players where the game stops around him and he sorts it out," Malthouse said. "That's very rare.

"I liken him to a chess player rather than checkers because a chess player has to think three or four moves in front.

"He thinks about these three or four moves while he's in action. That to me makes a very, very talented player."

So impressive was Pendlebury last season, in his first full year of AFL, that he ran second in the Rising Star Award and second in Collingwood's best and fairest.

All of this has an air of unreality given that, from the age of five to 17, Pendlebury's first sporting love was basketball.

Big Wrapes for Pendles by MM

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 22,00.html

You got it wrong again... Its wraps. Sorry couldn't help myself

[jack_spain]

Maybe jokes about rape aren't the best idea...

Of course you're right sherrife, but I don't think anyone here is laughing at rape. We are laughing at/with DTM.

[think better]

Pendlebury has a great 'sneaky steal'

I love the way he gets his hand into a pack knocks out the ball and picks up after.

[Alec. J. Hidell]

I've said a million times, I've not seen someone have so much time with the ball since Bucks. BUT, I have also stipulated, I am not saying he is going to be a Nathan Buckley, but he has as much time to think about it as Bucks.

I like the kid. I think he's going to be a real star of the future. But doesn't take einstein to work that one out.

Spot on L

[favourites 2008]

He just has to kick through the footy more often! He's a great thinking but i just feel he caresses the footy instead of kicking through it on occasions.

[Dave The Man]

DALE "Daisy" Thomas lit up the 2005 TAC Cup season and with Nathan Buckley's retirement, his is the merchandise most Collingwood supporters seek.

When Gippsland Power won the under-18 competition that year it was Thomas who won the medal for best afield and who was named in the All-Star team.

Three years later Thomas is, at 21, a star and the darling of the black and white masses.

He was a natural choice as the Magpies' priority pick and No. 2 overall in the 2005 national draft.

Three selections later, with no fanfare and to the delight of club recruiter Derek Hine, Thomas's skinny teammate Scott Pendlebury was also on his way to the Pies at pick No. 5, the same pick that sent a kid named Lance Franklin to Hawthorn 12 months earlier.

Tonight Pendlebury, still four months shy of his 21st birthday, will play his 55th AFL game in a semi-final against St Kilda having been earmarked as the youngster to lead Collingwood into a brave and exciting future.

Since arriving at the club, Pendlebury has grown 3cm and added 8kg - he is now 191cm and 89kg - but his standing among the players has grown far beyond his physical stature.

Old heads such as skipper Scott Burns urged him to be part of the team's leadership group and it seemed a natural progression for the smooth left-footer who finished runner-up in last year's NAB Rising Star Award and was second in the Copeland Trophy.

"Personally, I wanted that to happen like that. I wanted to come in and make an impact - not come in and play 40 games and really not give anything to the club," Pendlebury said.

Just Hype the Kid

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/ ... 63,00.html

[Dave The Man]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/ ... 63,00.html

[RockabyDaisy]

Was speaking to someone tonight who played basketball with Pendlz at a very high level.

He was saying how everyone was amazed at his ability and everyone was convinced he'd become big in baskteball.

Well arn't we lucky he chose Footy.

[favourites 2008]

"Nathan Buckley was the first bloke I watched the way he went about it. I didn't really ask him a lot of questions, but just tried to follow his lead.

"He trained so hard and that's something I try and do, to set a great example.

"People thought we might lack leadership when Bucks and Jimmy (Clement) went, but it's not so. Burns and Maxwell also train the house down, Fraser does when he's fit, O'Bree and Leon (Davis).

"They all train the house down and have skills that are just amazing and they all set the right example."

The football club is made of those who have come before us.

[sneaky]

Playing very good football. Liked the kid since his first game and could already see he had more potential than Thomas (Who I also rate). His contested work has improved and would be the best performed midfielder from that draft ('05).

But did anyone see him duck his head/pull out of the marking contest when he was backing into a sorta pack?

Made me cringe, only thing stopping me from rating him with the elite.

Thoughts?

[Adz]

Here we go

[sneaky]

Very informative

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

I'm surprised it took so long for someone to bring it up. I'm not usually comfortable focusing on these things (prefer the tash ) but it did happen and it's not the 1st time. The one hand attempt was pretty lame and disappointing to see. Let's face it, I don't think he's ever going to hit the packs like a Selwood or Rich, it's not his style, but he has other great qualities the others don't. By contrast, Lockyer's attempt to mark when crunched by two blokes twice his size was a pretty gutsy effort. He's one who's often (unfairly imo) maligned in that area.

[Black_White]

More likely a result of his basketball upbringing. The boy is still learning the game and hopefully will learn that contact is part of AFL.