{"id":677076,"date":"2026-05-17T17:02:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/677076\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T17:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:02:21","slug":"afl-2026-scott-pendlebury-hits-back-at-critics-and-thanks-supporters-as-he-prepares-to-break-afl-appearance-record-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/677076\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Scott Pendlebury hits back at critics and thanks supporters as he prepares to break AFL appearance record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott Pendlebury is adamant he is doing the right thing as he prepares to break the AFL appearance record.<\/p>\n

The Collingwood star will play in game 433 when West Coast visit the MCG next Saturday.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Pendlebury has attracted significant criticism over the milestone event and how he plans to celebrate it.<\/p>\n

He first caused a stir by sitting out of games against Hawthorn and Sydney Swans, though coach x insisted that was because of fitness reasons.<\/p>\n

While waiting for the landmark game details have emerged which reveal Pendlebury plans to wear a gold number on his jumper.<\/p>\n

The commemorative guernsey will be available for sale along with special edition boots, win and watches.<\/p>\n

And Pendlebury will be granted 100 per cent of the revenue from those sales – a portion of which he plans to donate to My Room, a children\u2019s cancer charity.<\/p>\n

The move has prompted backlash from fans, pundits and rival clubs, with the argument Pendlebury and Collingwood have got around the salary cap.<\/p>\n

Yet Pendlebury remains unperturbed by the noise surrounding the match, and is confident he is doing the right thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll stay out of that [debate] and just do what I do. I know what I am doing is right,\u201d Pendlebury told The Age<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While criticism has been prevalent, Pendlebury\u2019s peers have been largely supportive and previous appearance record breakers are set to attend the MCG next week.<\/p>\n

Most of Collingwood\u2019s 2010 premiership group is also expected at the game, and Pendlebury is keen to show to his gratitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have made a conscious effort to get around and text everyone privately who has played a big role [in my career],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

One former teammate Mason Cox leapt to his defence this week, slamming those who are aggrieved over Pendlebury deciding to earn some extra money.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt p***** me off. I\u2019m just infuriated by this because everyone\u2019s out there talking about him making money rather than celebrating what is the greatest football player we\u2019ve probably seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cTall poppy syndrome (is) well and truly alive… and there\u2019s no better case of it right now. You\u2019re talking about, I\u2019ll be honest, the most consistent player that\u2019s ever played the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop trying to throw all these things at Pendles. Heaven forbid you make money in a sport that\u2019s heavily underpaying their players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the most absurd, ridiculous (thing) that p***** me off. I\u2019m just infuriated by this because everyone\u2019s out there talking about him making money rather than celebrating what is the greatest football player we\u2019ve probably seen and we\u2019re all sitting there talking about him making cash.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I would hope that the guy who\u2019s literally represented the league in the best way possible over the longest time gets a bit of cash along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike he\u2019s still going to have to probably work a job once he\u2019s done and he\u2019s the best thing you guys have ever produced and you\u2019re p****d off he\u2019s still making money off it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt blows my mind and it p***** me off that I\u2019m seeing this in the media. Let the man live.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Scott Pendlebury hits back at critics and thanks supporters as he prepares to break AFL appearance record<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Pendlebury is adamant he is doing the right thing as he prepares to break the AFL appearance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-677076","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\/677076","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=677076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}