Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury has shared what he said to Jaidyn Stephenson when he got around the Magpies youngster during Monday night’s loss to Port Adelaide.
Pendlebury put his arm around the out-of-form Stephenson and attempted to lift his spirits with some words of advice.
“I think he just turned the ball over,” Pendlebury told SEN Breakfast.
“It was really good; he was trying to put some speed on the game and I just wanted to reinforce to keep doing it.
“Because in this game you are going to make mistakes and as young player you can’t go back into your shell, so I just encouraged him next time he got the ball to take them on again.
“He was flat, he gave up a mistake where he thought we could have got out and scored a goal, but I just wanted to reinforce to stay out there, stay in the moment, and just keep taking the game on.”
Pendlebury concedes the 21-year-old isn’t at “peak confidence” with finals on the horizon.
“He had an injury-interrupted pre-season, glandular fever and a few hiccups along the way,” the Magpies champion said.
“When he initially came back into the side, he was kicking goals and doing those types of things and then our ball movement and our scoring dried up and so did his opportunities.
“We’re just trying to get him back in a confidence headspace. Like all young players, it only takes one week or a good performance and they’re back on top of the world.
“So we’ve just got to get him in that state of mind again.”
Stephenson is no certainty to retain his spot for Collingwood’s elimination final clash against West Coast in Perth on October 3.