{"id":485161,"date":"2026-02-17T06:14:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/485161\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T06:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:14:29","slug":"channel-seven-strengthens-afl-coverage-with-collingwood-premiership-heroes-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/485161\/","title":{"rendered":"Channel Seven strengthens AFL coverage with Collingwood premiership heroes &#8211; AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl-season-guide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"255\" height=\"40\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" style=\"float:right;\" class=\"season-guide-banner promo-article-banner\" id=\"season-guide-banner\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HANGER_SG26_articleTag255x40.png.webp.webp\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/scott-pendlebury\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scott Pendlebury<\/a> is within touching distance of the coveted V\/<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AFL<\/a> games record, but that hasn&#8217;t prohibited the beloved Pie from making inroads in a potential media career.<\/p>\n<p>The Gippsland native is reprising his role providing as an expert commentator with Channel Seven for select rounds in the 2026 season. &#8216;Pendles&#8217; has previously hinted at a desire to join the coaching fraternity once his playing days conclude, but appears to be keeping his options open.<\/p>\n<p>The network confirmed the veteran&#8217;s return as part of a press release outlining their suite of shows and talent for the season ahead, on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/code-wars-to-reach-new-ground-as-afl-stars-revealed-for-new-reality-tv-show-172654\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pendlebury is also participating in reality TV show,\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/code-wars-to-reach-new-ground-as-afl-stars-revealed-for-new-reality-tv-show-172654\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rivals<\/a>, which will pit Aussie rules, rugby league and rugby union athletes against one another in a series of science-backed performance challenges.<\/p>\n<p>The network&#8217;s flagship panel program,\u00a0The Agenda Setters, is expanding to three nights this season, providing a platform for the likes of Cornes to express his far-reaching opinions. The archetypal modern footballer, and captain of the league&#8217;s most high-profile club, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/darcy-moore\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Darcy Moore<\/a>, will be a regular fixture on the new Wednesday night edition of the program.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-144050\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"QUIZ: How well do you remember Collingwood's 2023 season?\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-1697901840-scaled.jpg.webp.webp\"\/>MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA &#8211; SEPTEMBER 30: Darcy Moore of the Magpies and Craig McRae, Senior Coach of the Magpies celebrate with the premiership cup during the 2023 AFL Grand Final match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 30, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Channel 7 has also procured the services of 1999 Brownlow Medallist, and established media performer Shane Crawford, whose &#8220;infectious love for the game&#8221; will feature sporadically this season.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Taylor, James Brayshaw, Hamish McLachlan\u00a0and\u00a0Alister Nicholson will again undertake the bulk of the network&#8217;s calling responsibilities, but in a breath of fresh air, star on the rise Jack Heverin also joins the stable, with a particular focus on Sunday afternoon fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>Seven&#8217;s assortment of expert commentators is again headlined by the vocal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/kane-cornes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kane Cornes<\/a>, who is joined by familiar faces <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/luke-hodge\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luke Hodge<\/a>, Abbey Holmes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/nick-riewoldt\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nick Riewoldt<\/a>, Matthew Richardson, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/aflw\/players-aflw\/daisy-pearce\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Daisy Pearce<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/dale-thomas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dale Thomas<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/joel-selwood\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joel Selwood<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/aflw\/players-aflw\/kate-mccarthy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kate McCarthy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/aflw\/players-aflw\/erin-phillips\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Erin Phillips<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/chad-wingard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chad Wingard<\/a>, Cameron Ling, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl\/players\/jobe-watson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jobe Watson<\/a>, Campbell Brown and Jude Bolton will also feature regularly across the season, the network revealed.<\/p>\n<p>The network also hinted at a raft of documentary-style programs to air at different stages throughout the year, headlined by a series about the life and times of iconic caller, Dennis Cometti.<\/p>\n<p>Get set for the footy with the FREE <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl-season-guide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zero Hanger 2026 AFL Season Guide!<\/a> Packed with 150+ pages of player profiles, team previews, insights and analysis, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl-season-guide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 AFL Season Guide<\/a> is built for fans who want the full picture. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohanger.com\/afl-season-guide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Download your free Season Guide HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Pendlebury is within touching distance of the coveted V\/AFL games record, but that hasn&#8217;t prohibited the beloved&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-485161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}