AFL 2026, Round 10 Talking Points

There’s an argument being made that Collingwood has prioritised its Scott Pendlebury “romance” over winning games.

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Plus, why a familiar challenge awaits the league-leading Swans, the fairytale draft story growing in stature by the week, and more, in Foxfooty.com.au’s Round 10 Talking Points!

‘ROMANTICISM’ OVER WINNING? PENDLES DEBATE RAGES

There’s going to be plenty of time to celebrate Scott Pendlebury this week.

But debate has raged around the decision for Collingwood to manage Pendlebury, 38, ahead of his record game at the MCG.

Fair to say Magpies coach Craig McRae was a little prickly when probed on the matter after his undermanned side took ladder leader Sydney all the way in a gutsy six-point loss at the SCG.

“Do you want to celebrate the record for the most games in the history of the game here tonight? Or would you rather do it next week at the MCG?” McRae posed on Friday night.

“That’s a simple question, and respectfully, when ‘Pendles’ has played that many games, we want to make sure that we celebrate him in the right manner.

“His body isn’t as bulletproof as you think it is. Five and six-day breaks, all the data says that he’s just getting to the line, and we’re looking after him.

“We’ll celebrate him appropriately.”

It comes as Collingwood’s season dwindles, with Friday night’s loss pushing the 4-5-1 club outside the top 10.

Some will argue if they’d had Pendlebury against Sydney and in their draw with Hawthorn a few weeks ago — the other game the veteran was rested in — Collingwood could have two more wins.

Though they were two of the Magpies’ most impressive performances this season, where they got to learn about their list by blooding more youth.

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MAY 09: Scott Pendlebury is set to break the games record.Source: Getty Images

You can’t knock what they did on Friday night.

It’d also be remiss not to mention that Oscar Steene’s knee injury was a turning point against Sydney that badly hurt a Collingwood side already missing Darcy Cameron.

Hall of Famer and four-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews emphasised that the management of players has become an important tool with more of a long-term lens that Chris Scott’s Cats have been trailblazers in.

And Matthews would’ve had a bigger issue with the Pendlebury plan if the Sydney game were the only game he was managed in.

But the coaching great did suggest the Pies have prioritised “romance” over winning games.

“I must admit, I’m still a bit uncomfortable with the concept of … OK, he’s going to play the record-breaking game, it’s a big event. So yep, we’re going to make sure it’s at the MCG,” Matthews said on 3AW radio.

“At the expense of potentially getting the four points, your finals chances might be won or lost by a win or a loss.

“So it does seem a little bit over the top to me at the moment in terms of the romance overwhelming the practical aspect of trying to win as many games to play finals.”

There are two parts to it, really.

There’s the football discussion around whether Collingwood needs to keep playing Pendlebury every week, in what could be his last season, to stay in the finals race.

There’s also a clear need for the Pies to keep evolving their list and find out what they have underneath their veteran core in a year they’re a clear rung below the true contenders. Maybe even a rung below the next lot.

But also the commercial element that can’t be ignored by ensuring the game is played in front of 90,000-plus Collingwood fans at the MCG.

In what’s set to be a special moment for Pendlebury, the black and white faithful and entire code alike.

Pies urged not to rush stars back | 01:05

Along with a commemorative jumper and other tributes for the milestone, the Pendlebury party stands to make up to $500,0000 in a one-of-a-kind opportunity.

Perhaps there could’ve been some internal conflict around that whole football vs. commercial balancing act, even if most would acknowledge the former should always rise above anything.

Eagles premiership coach Adam Simpson “wouldn’t have” rested Pendlebury against Sydney, but he’s “fully embracing the fact that they have done it.”

Simpson said Collingwood’s dominant Anzac Day win over the 17th-placed Bombers “was the opportunity to have a rest,” on a day Pendlebury racked up a career-best 43 disposals to claim a record fourth Anzac Day Medal.

“It goes all the way back to Anzac Day. If you really wanted to maximise winning every week, he doesn’t play Anzac Day,” Simpson said on SEN radio.

“That’s the game for me.”

Former Port Adelaide boss Ken Hinkley agreed that Pendlebury should play the record game at the MCG, but suggested the planning around it could come back to hurt McRae’s side.

“We shouldn’t be talking too much around it. But when a season gets really tight right at the end of the year, where they finish and where they don’t finish. Gee, you had a choice, and you did choose the right option, I believe,” Hinkley said on SEN.

“To have his record-breaking game at the MCG in front of 100,000 people, which it should be. But planning for a season is pretty hard.”

Worst possible news for Steene | 00:26

‘FOUND A DIFFERENT WAY’: SCARY SWANS DETAIL… AND FAMILIAR CHALLENGE THAT LOOMS

League-leading Sydney claimed its ninth win of the season in a different fashion than we’re used to, and it’s becoming clear that Dean Cox’s men are facing a familiar challenge.

The Swans’ scintillating high-handball corridor game has been all the rage this season, and the longer they’ve been able to have success doing it, the more teams desperately try to quell it.

And on Friday night, Collingwood did everything it could to prevent Sydney from using the corridor – which, for two and a half quarters, worked a treat for the Pies.

But even while the visitors were able to keep the Swans to under 100 points for the first time since Round 2 – their only loss of the season – Cox’s chargers found ways around Collingwood’s stingy defence as the match progressed.

Instead of the free-flowing, aesthetic chains of Swans possessions we’ve been accustomed to seeing, it was good old-fashioned surge footy on a ‘win ugly’ night.

Sydney, which finished +25 for uncontested marks, took seven more marks overall than its season average, as it more frequently looked to pick holes in pockets of space rather than go balls-to-the-wall through the middle.

“In the second half, they started to go more around Collingwood … they found a different way to win tonight,” Geelong champion Tom Hawkins told Fox Footy’s post-match coverage.

Collingwood great and now-Cats assistant coach Nathan Buckley added: “The Swans’ surge wasn’t so much through run and carry and handball, it ended up being quick kicks along the ground, or a tackle and a knock-on.

“They bought in, the Swans. They were challenged, they faced that, they came back a little at the end of the second, and then through the second half, just ground the Pies out.”

Post-game, Nick Blakey – one of the club’s biggest run-and-gun proponents – didn’t shy away from the fact that his Swans have to stay on their toes as rivals seek ways to quell them.

“I think teams are doing that (plugging the corridor in team defence) now,” he told Cameron Mooney post-match.

Cox hails Swans win over Pies | 10:04

“We’ve started the season so well. Everyone says it (the middle of the ground) is our only avenue to score, but we find different ways. We train bloody hard at both aspects of our game.

“It felt like we lost (the week prior against North Melbourne), to be honest, with the reviews that we had. We just weren’t up to standard, and it didn’t look like our type of game that we usually play in.”

Cox also acknowledged that “you’re going to have to” use Plans B and C at times.

“That’s the part about a whole footy season. It is a long year, it’s a period where you’ve got to address certain areas of your game, and you’ve got to improve areas of your game,” he said.

“And we’re by far not the finished product or the team that we want to be at the end of the year, and we’ve got to keep working at that.”

Four-time premiership winner Jordan Lewis held a similar sentiment.

“I think you’ve got to learn things along the way. The footy that they were playing, as great as it was, I don’t think they would have been learning all that much,” he said on Friday night.

“I think a game like (Friday night), you bank the four points, you learn a little about personnel … but also different ways to be able to try and score, when the pressure is high.”

It presents a familiar issue for the Sydney Swans, almost two years on from their disastrous end to an otherwise dominant 2024 season.

John Longmire’s Bloods were also 9-1 after 10 games that year, before losing five of their last nine games going into the finals. They would, of course, go on to lose the decider to Brisbane by 10 goals.

Former Cats spearhead Hawkins knows all about the challenges and pressures of staying at the top for an entire season.

“I always used to find, mid-season, when you get to this point, you’ve found what works for you,” he said on Fox Footy.

“Breaking the season down into short allotments of time – it might be a two or three-week window where they play sides that they might focus on playing a certain way, given the opposition, which is always really important.

“But they emotionally were really ecstatic with the win tonight, so, clearly, they’re happy to be challenged in a different way, and we saw a really good response.”

Cam Mooney chats with DeMarcus Cousins | 02:06

RIDICULOUS ‘COMPLETE GAME’ IN LATEST DRAFT FAIRYTALE CHAPTER… AND QUASHES EXPANSION DOUBTS

If any aspiring AFL footballer needed a ‘don’t give up on your dreams’ reminder this weekend, Shaun Mannagh delivered one.

Again.

And, as one of footy’s great mature-age success stories, this might’ve been his best chapter yet.

Mannagh produced a career-best performance to inspire the red-hot Cats to a statement 41-point win over reigning premiers Brisbane at the Gabba on Thursday night.

The 28-year-old’s memorable display included 30 disposals. Of those 30 touches, 14 led to Cats scores, including five goals for Mannagh himself and three direct goal assists.

Mannagh joined Geelong legend Steve Johnson as the only Cats players since 1999 to have 30-plus disposals and five-plus goals in a game. Johnson famously did that in consecutive games against Melbourne and Gold Coast back in 2011.

Mannagh also produced the second-highest rated half by a Cat ever — second only to Johnson.

Not bad for a player who, prior to Thursday night, had never played at the Gabba before.

Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall described it as the “complete game”, while dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna labelled it “one of the great performances of the season”.

Montagna also pointed out that the five-goal game came after Mannagh’s early-season struggles, where he had six and eight disposals respectively in consecutive games against Hawthorn and West Coast. Now he’s kicked 12 goals from his past three matches.

“He had a two-week stretch where he couldn’t draw a football … everyone thought: ‘What has happened to Shaun Mannagh?’ But the last four weeks he’s been building,” Montagna said.

“He’s such a high talent, high-impact player ever since he’s stepped into Geelong as that mature-aged recruit.”

Cats coach Chris Scott also praised the performance of Mannagh, who’s been “looking like himself a little bit more” in recent weeks.

Scott also pointed out post-game that it felt like Mannagh, despite being 28, was “really early in his (AFL) journey”, adding: “Maybe that late start helps a bit.”

And it was mightily late.

Mannagh was initially draft eligible in 2015.

He was then overlooked in eight consecutive drafts while plying his trade for clubs like Lavington, North Albury, Richmond (VFL) and, most notably, Werribee.

Ultimately, Mannagh’s 2023 campaign was too good to ignore as AFL clubs finally showed interest in him. He won the Norm Goss Medal for the best player in the VFL grand final — despite Werribee’s loss to Gold Coast — after kicking six goals from 28 disposals. From his 21 games for the season, he kicked 40.32 and averaged 25 touches per outing.

The Cats pounced at Pick 36 in that year’s draft.

Mannagh told Foxfooty.com.au after star teammate Tom Stewart’s 200th game that as a fellow mature-ager entering the AFL, he “definitely” drew inspiration from the South Barwon product.

“I think he was the first person to contact me from the Cats, other than ‘Scotty’,” Mannagh said. “As soon as I got drafted, he rang me that night saying ‘congratulations, welcome to the club’.

“Obviously, our stories overlap a little bit in terms of being mature-agers, so I get around him as much as possible, and he does the same.”

A fortnight ago, in a heartwarming callback to his North Albury days and an indication of his long-winded journey to the big time, Mannagh celebrated his third goal against Collingwood by replicating former coach Jason Akermanis’ famous 2005 goal celebration.

“I’m really close to ‘Aker’,” Mannagh told Foxfooty.com.au.

“He’s an old coach of mine when I was coming through at North Albury. I was there with him for four years – he took me under his wing and taught me a lot.

“I wouldn’t be here today without him in my footy journey … it was nice to give that (celebration) to him.”

After 12 games in his first AFL season, Mannagh played 23 in 2025 and was the No.2-rated general forward in the competition.

On Thursday night, he created Cats history.

“It’s a great story,” Scott said. “He’s committed for the longer term for us, which is fantastic.

“He was the same draft as Logan Morris … it’s a miss for the competition that Logan Morris slipped that far. But at least we got Shauny Mannagh, as well as Connor O’Sullivan and Mitch Edwards.”

As colleague Max Laughton pointed out on X, a player like Mannagh is “a pretty good counter argument to anyone saying there’s not enough talent for expansion (and especially if they’re saying there’s not enough talent for 18 teams)”.

Mannagh’s performance against Brisbane comes a few weeks before the mid-season draft; likely to be dominated by mature-age state-league players.

Tasmania’s Jaxon Artemis seems a near certainty to get selected, Geelong VFL duo Marcus Herbert and Kye Annand have interest from AFL clubs, Woodville West-Torrens’ Ethan Grace and 206cm Carlton VFL ruck Flynn Riley have both emerged as candidates, and son-of-a-gun Zac Mainwaring is on the radar of multiple clubs.

And who knows, there could be a few Mannagh-like rises from that group.

“I’ve been very lucky in my whole time, a lot of great coaches, a lot of great people around me – I think that’s the main thing is just having good people around you that are locked in on your goal,” Mannagh told ABC Sports on Thursday night.

“I’ve always wished and dreamed of playing AFL, and I never let that go. If you have like-minded people around you who can put you in that direction to go towards your goal, that certainly helps.”

Scott blows up deluxe at quarter time | 00:15

HOW DOGS’ STRENGTH BECAME GLARING WEAKNESS… AND STAR WHO ‘HASN’T BEEN THE SAME’

It’d been one of the quieter storylines up until this weekend, but the vibes around the Western Bulldogs’ season have dramatically plummeted.

And midfield depth – once considered an enormous strength of Luke Beveridge’s side – was exposed as a weakness in the Dogs’ shock loss to Carlton on Saturday night; their fifth defeat in their past six games.

Granted, the Bulldogs have been one of the sides decimated by injury this year – with ruckman Tim English’s prolonged absence a particularly sore point – but the supporting cast for Marcus Bontempelli hasn’t stood up in the engine room.

“Without Bontempelli absolutely stamping a three-vote performance, who’s next? What’s underneath Marcus?” two-time flag-winner David King asked post-match.

“He had a quiet game – 24 disposals, three score involvements and a goal – and we were crying out (for someone else to step up).

“Sanders was serviceable, (but) where’s Freijah been this year? Where’s Richards been this year?

“Does Luke Beveridge have to create a role for these guys? … I think the question is more for the players, not necessarily the coach, and without a ruckman, it makes it really difficult.”

In-game, with the game in the balance, King remarked: “There’s not a lot of vigour in what they are doing. Bontempelli is working hard. Outside of that … you have to question the effort and the work rate. I’m looking at Ed Richards … He can’t get his hands on the ball in contest.”

Richards has had an inauspicious start to the season after a terrific 2025 campaign, managing just one coach’s vote in his past eight matches.

Compared to last year, he’s down on player rating, disposals, score involvements and inside-50s per game.

Freijah has also fallen in player rating, while Tom Liberatore remains sidelined by concussion issues, and Adam Treloar is on the edge of the cliff at age 33.

“It’s Bontempelli or bust,” First Crack’s Jay Clark said post-game.

“Ed Richards was All-Australian last year; he has not had the same season.”

For the game, the Dogs finished -9 for clearances, -5 for centre clearances, and -17 for inside-50s.

And while Sam Darcy, Tom Liberatore and James O’Donnell are big names that continue to miss, it’s English’s magnet that may be most important of all for the wounded Dogs.

“Tim English might be the second-most important man at the Western Bulldogs,” Clark said.

“We talk a lot about Bontempelli, (but) when he (English) doesn’t play, the game swings … I think Bevo will be asking some pretty big questions this week.”

Triple Richmond premiership player Jack Riewoldt, meanwhile, was more concerned by the Dogs’ reactiveness, which included repeated losses in the centre square.

“I think the worrying sign for me was that we didn’t see a change of gear – we didn’t see a move,” he said on Fox Footy’s Super Saturday Live.

“We really didn’t see anything proactive from Luke Beveridge to try and get the game on their terms, other than taking the odd risk through the middle of the ground.

“They were completely shut out – the middle of the ground was a no-go zone for the Dogs – so I think they’d review this and go ‘we should have changed the way we were playing the game’, because fundamentally, Carlton forced them wide.”

Things get no easier for the Bulldogs in Round 11, coming up against red-hot Melbourne, before meetings with Collingwood, Hawthorn, Adelaide and St Kilda before their Round 14 bye.

They sit just half a game inside the top 10 and could drop out as soon as next week with a loss to the Demons and a Collingwood win over West Coast.

DANGEROUS DEES ‘HONEYMOON’ PERIOD TURNS ‘HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN’

Melbourne are now the “hottest ticket in town” after their 7-3 start, with the side sitting on the cusp of top four – outside only by percentage.

Fox Footy’s experts believe the Dees are enjoying a “honeymoon” period under new coach Steven King in 2026, but can it last all season?

Dual premiership Roo David King believes so.

“My cuz Steven!” he joked.

“It’s great to see them play with such freedom and give these guys new lease on life.

“They are paying him (Steven King) back in spades.

“It’s not just one man in the middle – they are spreading the load, they are sharing the love.

“Their speed was evident. They put what looked like a slow Hawthorn to the sword.

“They are dangerous. They are in good form and good health.

“Who knows (how far they can go).

“I think they are really in a sweet spot right now.

“A honeymoon phase under a new coach. Can it go the whole year? Absolutely it can!

“They’ve beaten some quality teams.”

Melbourne’s conquests include reigning premiers Brisbane and now Hawthorn in recent weeks in a surprising start to life without traded star duo Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver.

And skipper Max Gawn couldn’t resist the little dig post match: “Multiple people had us at 0-6!”

“They have learnt how to punish teams,” King praised, as he likened the Dees quick turnaround to that of the Western Bulldogs when Luke Beveridge arrived as head coach.

“It reminds me when Brendan McCartney gave up the reins to Luke Beveridge at the Dogs – he had a great contest game and a great defence game and then you add the spark.

“Let’s free-wheel, play with some flair.

“You’ve still got the residual from the previous coach … but you’ve got some flair and you use ball movement as your next weapon. So you are capable in the other areas but not reliant.”

Finals now a reality for daring Dees? | 11:00

Back when Beveridge arrived in 2015, many tipped the Dogs to struggle without skipper Ryan Griffen, Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney and injured star Tom Liberatore – instead they managed a sixth place finish and finals action.

It was the following year Beveridge led the Dogs to the 2016 flag.

Triple premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt described Melbourne as the current “best team to watch”.

“That’s the eighth time they’ve scored over 100 points this season,” he said of the win over Hawthorn.

“They are consistently putting good scores on the scoreboard – the old adage the first to one hundred usually wins… Melbourne are the best at doing it.

“I think (Jacob van Rooyen) was a bit of a whipping boy under Simon Goodwin and he seems to have grabbed his opportunity.

“Daniel Turner is turning into a very, very good centre half back – 12 intercepts on Saturday.

“They have got the nucleus in every aspect of the game, and of course Kossie Pickett who can win a game himself.”

Off the back of their form, Jay Clark believes Melbourne are emerging as a “top six contender”.

“It validates the massive changes this club made – bringing Steven King in, sacking Simon Goodwin and then a new CEO only a couple of weeks ago.

“Clearly this football team is unimpeded.

“(Geelong premiership coach) Mark Thompson used to talk a lot about attacking the game. Steven King’s premiership coach attacks the game and that’s what they are doing 20 years on.

“They are an electric football team right now.

“What a transformation.

“They used to be long down the line, contest and defence.

“Now Melbourne fans have got the hottest ticket in town – they are a joy to watch.”

King said the Dees were “back in the race again” thanks to the performances of some of the lesser knowns.

“He’s getting the best out of players we weren’t sure about,” he praised.

“Sparrow has gone next level, Jefferson was good – guys we maybe had a question mark on.

“They are back in the race again.”

Narrm dazzle against Hawthorn | 02:29