Tim Watson has lifted the lid on how Collingwood President Eddie McGuire found out about Scott Pendlebury’s broken finger in Sunday’s International Rules game.
Pendlebury is hopeful of playing in Saturday’s second meeting against Ireland, believing the injury is only a minor one. Despite the severity of the ailment, McGuire wasted no time in getting to the bottom of the situation as soon as it occurred.
“His company is doing the production side of the International Rules, McGuire Media,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“He is sitting back in his Jason Recliner Rocker in his lounge room somewhere in Toorak. He can’t see Scott Pendlebury on his screen anywhere, so he picks up his phone and texts someone he knows who is part of the company who is producing, and he says, where’s Pendlebury? And he gets a reply saying, I don’t know. He isn’t going to take that for an answer.
“So he thinks ok, where can I go now to get some more information? He goes through his contact list in his phone and gets to B Scott. Brad Scott is the assistant coach. He thinks, ok I know Scotty always has his phone on him, so he goes ring ring ring, not really probably expecting an answer. But the phone gets picked up by Brad Scott in the Australian coaching box during the International Rules game.
“He says to Scotty, where’s Pendlebury? He says, he has gone to hospital because he has broken his finger. Then Eddie gets back on the phone and rings the producer and says boys, I got some information for you, can you pass this onto Basil Zempilas, the reason Pendlebury isn’t out there is his gone to hospital with a broken finger.”
The Magpies skipper missed the final six games of the 2017 season with a similar injury, but this new concern is on the other hand and isn’t as serious.