“Cooked him”: Collingwood criticised for handling of Pendlebury

Kane Cornes believes Collingwood has erred in its handling of Scott Pendlebury during the Anzac Day clash with Essendon.

The 38-year-old will be rested for this Thursday night’s crunch clash with Hawthorn off a five-day break as the countdown to his AFL games record continues.

Pendlebury amassed a career-best 43 disposals and a remarkable 19 score involvements as he claimed a record fourth Anzac Medal in his side’s 77-point win over the Bombers at a the MCG on Saturday.

But he clocked up 83 per cent of game time and 92% of the fourth term which according to Cornes “cooked” the evergreen veteran ahead of the Round 8 fixture with the Hawks.

“I’m not sure when at Collingwood it became about the individual and not the team,” Cornes said on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters.

“Scott Pendlebury should be playing this week against Hawthorn, they need him to be playing.

“The reason he’s not playing against Hawthorn when they desperately need him is because they cooked him, they absolutely cooked him.

“He was chasing a disposals and Anzac Day Medal record that we all loved and all celebrated - congratulations to him.

“But this is about the team, and Collingwood’s next three weeks - Hawthorn, Geelong and Sydney - Pendlebury is going to be playing in one of those games.

“They’ve beaten St Kilda, Giants, Carlton and Essendon - they’ve beaten no one. He just should be playing this week, they desperately need him against this Hawthorn side.

“But he’s not because he spent five minutes total on the bench in the second half. He’s 38 years old, he should have played - with this game in control at half-time and certainly at three-quarter time - five minutes of the last quarter.

“He spent the most time on the ground other than Nick Daicos, he spent just over two minutes on the bench in the last quarter.

“When has he ever played 92% of a quarter? If they had managed him smartly and played him for 70-80 minutes of the game, he plays this week.”

Cornes continued: “They’re in it to win the premiership now, they cannot win the premiership if they don’t get over Hawthorn, Geelong and Sydney, or at least two of those three.

“They’ve beaten no one, and he should just be playing this week.

“Of course I do (love the romance of a fourth Anzac Medal), but Pendlebury’s never been a selfish player, it’s always been about the team.

“When’s it ever been about medals or individual disposal records.”

Pendlebury has now played 431 games and will equal North Melbourne champion Brent Harvey’s record of 432 when he next steps out.

The former Pies skipper is expected to break the record against West Coast in the MCG in Round 11, rather than against the Swans in Sydney the week prior.