Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury says he “feels sorry” for Talor Byrne after getting around the Carlton youngster following a costly miss after the siren in Thursday night’s thrilling finish between the arch rivals.
Byrne had the chance to tie the scores after drawing a free kick for a hit from Josh Daicos behind play with 15 seconds left in the MCG match.
But the fourth-gamer’s kick missed left to only register a minor score and hand Collingwood a five-point win as the Blues suffered another fade-out to fall to 1-5.
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Byrne was instantly swarmed by Carlton teammates in support of the gutted youngster. And in a classy act, Pendlebury could also be seen getting around Byrne among a group of Blues players.
Speaking post-match, Pendlebury says he sympathised for the 18-year old and told him to continue to put himself in those positions to win games.
“I feel sorry for the young lad,” Pendlebury said on Fox Footy.
“You could see he was so shattered afterwards, but he put himself in the position to win it so I think everyone on the field would rather be in his shoes than sitting by not knowing what the outcome would be.
“I just said ‘don’t worry about it man, put yourself in that position so many more times and you’ll nail them’.
“You don’t like to see someone shattered like that.”
Scott Pendlebury got around Talor Byrne.Source: FOX SPORTS
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Blues coach Michael Voss rued his side’s missed moments after it gave up yet another lead.
But Voss defended Byrne and was proud of the way his teammates supported him, saying the loss is “not all on the young man’s shoulders”.
“We had a conversation there. He’s probably rehearsed that in the backyard 2000 times, being at the MCG against Collingwood, game on the line, siren has gone,” Voss said.
“But what was important that our team supported him through that. He obviously didn’t quite get the job done, but the boys rallied.
“You win together, you lose together. In that particular moment, it was good to see the players get around him as strong as what they did.
“He was a pretty upset young man, but he needs to know he doesn’t need to own all that.
“I’m sure he’ll take his next one.”
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Meanwhile, Collingwood coach Craig McRae said he wouldn’t “come down hard” on an “apologetic” Josh Daicos for his brain fade moment that nearly cost the Pies two points.
“I’m the sort of coach that thinks that’s part of our journey,” McRae said.
“We stuffed something up last week too and you go, let’s learn from it. You’d rather do it now than later in the year when it’s massive, massive consequences.
“I’m not a coach that will come down hard on Josh. Josh is an incredible player for us, he made a mistake. We all make mistakes, lots of them.
“Get around him and we keep moving.”