This Monday night Scott Pendlebury will play his 314th game for Collingwood, passing Tony Shaw to become the club’s most capped player.
He will also play his 162nd game as Magpies skipper, passing Nathan Buckley for most games as captain of the Magpies.
Pendlebury has been an incredibly consistent player across his career, dipping below 20 games in a season once since 2007, not including 2020.
He has won five Copeland Trophies, one behind Buckley for the club record, and is a six-time All-Australian.
Long time Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine, who selected Pendlebury with pick five back in the 2005 National Draft, has revealed the extent the star midfielder has gone to in extending the prime of his career.
“He’s an enormous trainer and he’s great mates with (NBA player) Patty Mills and a lot of the way he models his professional career is around basketball,” Hine told SEN’s Bob and Andy.
“I was talking to him not long ago and he was talking about how, I think it was Patty, when he moves into this house and he’s basically (built) a wing where it’s just all about his preparation and his recovery and so on.
“Scott has built himself a house down Elwood way and there’s an element of that in the way he has built the house.
“I knew that he’d set himself up with a sauna downstairs for his recovery, but I was actually up in the transition hub with Alex (Pendlebury’s wife) and we were just talking away and he’s got a little recovery pool and I didn’t realise he’d paid a little bit extra for this filtration system that could pump these minerals into the water which would aid his recovery.
“That’s the level of the man. It’s just a great story and everything that comes his way he deserves.”
Pendlebury and Collingwood take on ladder-leaders Port Adelaide on Monday, with a win locking them into sixth spot on the ladder and a ‘home’ Elimination Final.
Listen to the full conversation with Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine below