19 seasons, 399 career games, two premierships, one Norm Smith Medal, six All-Australian honours, five Copeland Trophies, three ANZAC medals, the 2013 AFLCA Champion Player of the Year, two AFLPA Best Captain awards, the 2007 AFLPA Best Young Player award and the Captain of the Collingwood Football Club for eight years from 2014-2022.
It has been a career filled full of achievements for Scott Pendlebury, with a list of accolades that is one of the best in the history of the game.
Pendlebury has always remained the ultimate professional throughout his career, part the reason he has been able to reach the 400-game milestone, something only five players have done before him.
But which of his 19 seasons are considered his best? In which of his 19 seasons did Scott Pendlebury reach his peak, in which did he achieve the most, and which seasons possibly flew under the radar?
Here’s Pendlebury’s best ten seasons ranked, and the stats to showcase it.
#10: 2016 (Collingwood finish 12th with a record of 9-0-13)
After battling injuries at the start of the year, Scott Pendlebury came back into the side playing primary on the half-back line in 2016. A consistent year saw the Pies skipper once again play a pivotal role for his side across the season.
35 disposals in front of 85,000 fans on ANZAC Day was the most ball Pendlebury had in a game that year, while a three goal, 26-disposal performance against Geelong in Round Nine was arguably his best game for the season, as the Pies were able to come away 26-point winners on a Saturday afternoon at the MCG.
Averaging 28.6 disposals per game along with 12.6 contested possessions and 5.6 tackles, it certainly wasn’t a year to forget for Pendlebury despite the team’s position on the ladder.
Scott finished 19 votes clear of new recruit Adam Treloar, to win his fourth straight Copeland Trophy, his fifth overall.
#9: 2015 (Collingwood finish 12th with a record of 10-0-12)
Pendlebury was more involved with the play up the field in 2015 as he kicked 15 goals and produced 21 goal assists for the season, only one assist less than his career best of 22 in a single year.
Averaging 4.6 clearances that season, Pendlebury was winning the ball out of the middle and working hard forward to get on the scoresheet and set up others in the process.
Pendlebury managed to poll three Brownlow votes on three separate occasions that year, with those games being.
Round 5 v Carlton – (32 disposals and two goals)
Round 8 v Gold Coast – (35 disposals, three goals)
Round 14 v Hawthorn – (37 disposals, 10 clearances, and 10 tackles)
#8: 2014 (Collingwood finish 11th with a record of 11-0-11)
Going into the 9th season of his career, 2014 was slightly different for Scott Pendlebury as this was his first year as Captain of the Club.
The increased pressure, responsibility, and leadership didn’t faze the 26-year-old as he continued to put in consistent performances across the season, leading from the front.
Averaging 28.3 disposals per game, Pendlebury began to grow his status as a player that was more damaging with the ball despite having slightly less possessions than other premium midfielders in the competition.
With 13 goals, from 23 scoring shots, while averaging 13 contested possessions and 5.5 tackles, it was an impressive year for Pendlebury all round.
Pendlebury came away from the season being named in the All-Australian team for the fifth consecutive year, while also claiming his third Copeland Trophy, his second in a row.
In round two of this season, Pendlebury kicked, what could be considered his best career goal, linking up with Captain, Nick Maxwell. A slick handball chain beat four Swans, as the ball worked from the wing into the forward 50 where Pendlebury finished off the team play.
#7: 2023 (Collingwood crowned Premiers)
What a special year 2023 was for Scott Pendlebury.
13 years on from winning a Premiership in his fifth season of football, Scott Pendlebury and his best mate Steele Sidebottom won their second premiership together, beating out the Lions by four points in a thrilling game.
Pendlebury wound back the clock in some regards throughout the season, using his knowledge of the game and expertise to pick his way through opposition midfields and make it look like he had as much time and space as he could ever want when he had the ball in hand.
Pendlebury was also significantly more damaging with the ball, with an increase of 25 clearances from the 2022 season, along with 15 more inside 50s.
The Grand Final would turn out to be one of his best games for the year, with a goal in the third term to put the Pies back in the lead arguably his highlight of the season. With an incredible, slow-motion replay capturing his celebration after the goal, you could clearly see how important the game and that individual moment meant to the veteran.
Despite no individual accolades for the season, Pendlebury would break the record for the most career disposals by any V/AFL footballer ever, breaking Robert Harvey’s record in the Round 17 clash against the Western Bulldogs.
#6: 2018 (Collingwood Runners Up)
As a 30-year-old, many would have expected a slow decline in performances from Scott Pendlebury, however he did exactly the opposite in 2018.
Pendlebury turned back time with his most disposals in a season since 2013, as well as his most tackles in a season since 2011 and an increase of 47 clearances from the previous year.
Averaging 28 touches, 11 contested possessions, six tackles and a goal every other game, the competition was in awe of what the Captain of the Collingwood Football club was doing on the field.
Another impressive feat was his eight-game streak of kicking a goal. From Round Six against Richmond, Scott Pendlebury kicked a goal in every game until his run came to an end against Essendon in Round 16 (Pendlebury didn’t play in Round 8).
37 disposals – 19 of which were contested – along with 13 clearances was by far his best performance of the season in Round X and that was in a side that lost to the reigning premiers, Richmond.
#5: 2019 (Collingwood bow out in Preliminary Final)
Coming off the back of a great individual season that ended in heartbreak, Scott Pendlebury was back and better in 2019 with the Pies trying to make it back to the biggest day on the AFL calendar again.
Being named in the All-Australian side at the end of the year marked the first time Pendlebury reached this milestone since 2014. This was Pendlebury’s sixth inclusion in the All-Australian side for this career.
An already two-time ANZAC Day medallist, Pendlebury claimed his third in 2019 with 38 disposals, having previously won back-to-back medals across the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
Feeding the ball into the forwards in regular fashion, Pendlebury was able to tally 120 inside 50s for the season, a career-high for the midfielder.
Away from football, Pendlebury and his partner Alex also welcomed young Darcy to the world in November of 2019 following the birth of big brother Jax in 2017.
#4: 2012 (Collingwood bow out in Preliminary Final)
After winning the Grand Final in 2010 and then losing in 2011, Collingwood were a hungry side, eager to make their wrongs right in the 2012 season, with 24-year-old Scott Pendlebury in the prime of his career.
Pendlebury was hard to stop during the all season, averaging a career high 14 contested possessions per game, along with a career-high 135 clearances for the season.
2012 was also the year that Pendlebury would kick a career-high number of goals in a game to date, with four.
In front of 75,650 fans on a Friday night in May 2012, Pendlebury ran the show, with his four goals to go with 30 disposals, six tackles, and seven inside 50s against the Cats.
It would come as no surprise that Collingwood came away with the win in that game by two goals against the side Collingwood had lost to in the previous year’s Grand Final to.
Pendlebury also kicked two of the best goals of his career in that game. The first was with one minute and forty seconds left of the second term, where heran down the near side wing, taking two bounces before slotting the ball through the goals from 50m out, up against the boundary line.
The next was the sealer with fifty seconds left on the clock. An over the head, backwards handball from Steele Sidebottom found Pendlebury who went for goal from inside the centre square. A good bounce may have helped, but nevertheless, it was a goal to seal a massive game for the Pies.
#3: 2013 (Collingwood bow out in Elimination Final)
In 2013 Pendlebury was named in the All-Australian team for the fourth consecutive year and was widely regarded as one of the best players in the competition.
Pendlebury also managed to beat out fellow club champion, Dane Swan, to win his second Copeland Trophy.
With 21 Brownlow votes, Pendlebury polled the second most of any Magpie that season, finishing behind Swan.
While none of Pendlebury’s statistics were career-highs or career-best averages, he did manage to have his best game in terms of disposals in 2013.
In Round 16 at the MCG against Adelaide, Pendlebury had hold of the ball 42 times and managed to kick two goals along with his eight clearances.
A season of the highest quality was also recognised by the Coaches Association – winning their vote as the player of the year.
#2: 2010 (Collingwood crowned Premiers)
Going into his fifth season of AFL football, the league knew who Scott Pendlebury was, but during the 2010 season, everyone began to really take notice.
Compared to the 2009 season, Pendlebury has 149 more disposals, 75 more tackles, 25 more inside 50s, 85 more contested possessions and nine more goals. Almost every metric you could use to measure one’s performance was increased in that season by the champion.
29 disposals, five tackles, five clearances and a goal in the 2010 ANZAC Day game handed him his first ANZAC Medal in what seemed to be the beginning of an era, with it becoming the first of many individual honours he would go on to win.
Pendlebury would play his 100th game of his career in the Preliminary Final that season and celebrated in typical Pendlebury fashion by having 24 disposals and kicking two goals.
As if he wasn’t going to tick off enough in his career – Pendlebury suited up for two Grand Finals in 2010, with the star winning the Norm Smith Medal in the replay.
The year would be finished off with Scott being named in the All-Australian side for the first time in his career.
#1: 2011 (Collingwood crowned Runners Up)
The 2011 season was comfortably the best season that Scott Pendlebury has had throughout his career, and it was for more than just footballing reasons – with the first reason being those dreadlocks!
Coming into the season, Pendlebury rocked a new look, with a head of dreadlocks gracing the MCG for the first six months of the season. It certainly helped him stand out amongst the other players on the field as the midfielder was proving hard to be stopped by the opposition.
Averaging 29.5 disposals, Pendlebury accumulated 742 touches by season’s end, the most in a season he has had to date. With 150 tackles – also his career best – he was averaging more than six per game as you couldn’t catch Pendlebury with the ball and you couldn’t get away from him when he didn’t have it.
It was also a successful year in front of goal with Collingwood’s number 10 kicking 24 goals for the year.
Pendlebury was once again unstoppable on ANZAC Day, booting three goals and having 34 possessions. The performance won Pendlebury his second straight ANZAC Day Medal as he led the side to victory in the biggest home and away game of the year.
A year of such dominance and class was rewarded with Pendlebury receiving his first Copeland Trophy and winning the Bob Rose Trophy, rewarded to the best finals player that year.
Pendlebury would lose out to teammate Dane Swan in the Brownlow Medal. Polling 24 votes – a career best – Pendlebury would finish equal third with the Bulldogs’ Matthew Boyd and behind St Kilda’s Nick Dal Santo.
What an incredible journey it has been for Scott Pendlebury. 19 seasons, that for a variety of reasons, could all be argued in one way or another that they are his best.
As he takes to the field this week to play his 400th career AFL game, think back to all the memories he has had throughout his career and the type of legacy that this legend will leave at the Collingwood Football Club.
