Pendles, the 10,000 man. Greatest Pie ever, now ??

[The Black and White Lion]

let's face it. Buckley never bounced a ball off a pigeon. Pendles did, plus 2 premierships and all those other accolades. Game over, Pendles is the best and most decorated of the two all round on the field.

We all wanted Buckley to be the best, he had the talents no doubt. He probably matured too late in playing days and in coaching.

I'm guessing Pendles is going to become a coach or a manager or timelord or something in future post his playing days. I'm guessing he's going to have more success than Buckley off the field as well whether it be with juniors and seniors across the country or at AFL level.

Will be interesting to revisit this scenario in 10-15years time. Don't wait up

[RudeBoy]

Sadly, I expect Pendles will be coaching against us in 3-4 yrs time, as Fly will remain our coach for another decade.

[qldmagpie67]

This is a very good read
And honestly no one’s opinion is wrong it’s subjective in many ways
Having followed Collingwood since the mid 70’s (we didn’t get any on TV in QLD until then then it was just March if the round) I can’t offer the same insight as many on here
I posted earlier it’s more likely a era by era thing as the game changes so much era to era be it rules or professionalism
For my humble opinion
Most skilful would be Buckley. There was nothing on the field he couldn’t do. Has there ever been a player who could kick 50+m darts off either side of his body ? But for a large part of his career Buckley was all about Buckley. But his commitment to being the absolute best he could be was before it’s time. He trained harder snd more than any other player of his generation.

Darren Millane was likely the hardest player of his era and a true inspirational leader. Known for his ability to drink 20 beers on a Friday night and get 30 touches on a Saturday afternoon he was one of a kind. I doubt we win the 1990 GF without pants.

Swanny took time to get to his best but when he did was there a more dominate player in the competition? He often just willed himself from contest to contest and make an impact. He seemed to have the Midas touch often kicking that goal we needed or hitting a target 40m out or make a huge tackle. He was a cross between Buckley and Millane in many ways. His record in the Copeland and Brownlow speak for itself

Pendles wow where do you start. He is likely the greatest team mate any player could have. It’s hard to believe his ability to be arguably the best on field last Friday night at age 36. The job he did on Cripps was match winning. But he also contributed to our win himself along the way. Pies4shaw mentioned he should have won more flags possibly. Losing Swan in 2016 likely hurt our chances especially in 2018 we lose by under a kick and Swan would have certainly been worth more than a kick to us. But we always seemed 1 or 2 players short of being noted as a true contender.
With 400 fast approaching it’s safe to say that the final chapter of his career isn’t written yet. He’s not injury prone, his body is still in great shape, his output whilst not at the standard it was at his peak is still better than 80% of the players in the competition and he showed again Friday he still has that drive and passion to compete against the best and ability to still come out on top.

[Pies4shaw]

[What'sinaname]

[Magpietothemax]

Wonderful reading all these tributes to our greatest players.
For me, Pendles is the GOAT pie, because as others have emphasized, he has so much power to unleash the best in the entire team. It is never just a question of his individual brilliance: his orientation has always been to do everything he can to lift the team.
A marvel.