What has happened to Pendlebury?

[Number 10]

This is the first time I can remember him having 2-3 bad games in a row. He has lost his confidence, he looks slow and doesn't have his usual slow-time-down happening for him. All his kicks are snaps around the body under pressure when uually he would get out of the situation with ease.

Is missing ball catching up on him? Is it that we suspended swan? His injury? I don't know, but I hope he picks up because we don't have much creativity in the middle at the moment.

 

[Premier Pies]

Surely it has to be attributed to injury and nothing more. Pendles has too much class to simply be "out of form". It certainly doesn't help when your ball magnet team mate Swan is out and all the tagging emphasis is put on you.

 

[Soul_Pie]

Injury, definitely. He is not moving well.

 

[Gambit78]

Has he really had 2 or 3 bad games though? In round 3 he got beaten comprehensively but I wouldn't say it's been anything like that these past few weeks. He's still been serviceable without dominating. His numbers are reasonably good and he still has the most damaging handball in the game. These back spasms concern me, because, if I understand this correctly, a back spasm could indicate problems elsewhere. I don't think his form is that bad. It looks worse when the rest of the team struggles.

 

[jathanas]

His movement is clearly restricted. The guy is not 100%, its that simple.

His value to the side is such that when he's not firing, it shows us up. There's only so much slack the Beamer can carry.

 

[loki04]

I tell you one thing the loss of Swan does (among many things) is it exposes the real lack of foot speed and line breaking mids we have, Swan is the only mid we have with genuine pace bar Wellingham (who is hot and cold).

When was the last time you saw a collingwood mid regularly break from a center bounce and stream forward either delivering a lace out pass or kicking the goal themselves?

Not since Buckley retired have we seen it done on a consistent basis and I'm not saying the player need to be as good as bucks but at least have someone capable of it, J.Thomas in his u/18 days seems the most likely on our list but we all know his injury issues.

Very notable vs Carlton, Hawks and Nth the lack of leg speed now that they can match us physically.

 

[3066]

Injury, definitely. He is not moving well.

Yeah I agree. With Swan coming back in I'd like to see Pendles maybe pitch hitting a bit more in the forward line too (for a few weeks) till he is a bit more cherry ripe for the finals. At least that way we can also get someone to start kicking goals for us too.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

Battling mental demons from the cracked leg.

We'll most likely need to wait till next season to see him back to normal unfortunately.

 

[Number 10]

Battling mental demons from the cracked leg.

We'll most likely need to wait till next season to see him back to normal unfortunately.

That's the thing though- he normally looks like he has never missed a beat when coming back from injury.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

That's the thing though- he normally looks like he has never missed a beat when coming back from injury.

Never been injured for that long though.

Last time he broke his leg was during the St.Kilda final. It was the third last game of the year anyway, so he technically missed 2 and a quarter games.

This time he missed like 5 or 6.

Big difference. He may be a bit skittish about going in like he normally does for fear of being slid into the leg again. He'll need time to get over that.

 

[TheFreshBanana]

I tell you one thing the loss of Swan does (among many things) is it exposes the real lack of foot speed and line breaking mids we have, Swan is the only mid we have with genuine pace bar Wellingham (who is hot and cold).

When was the last time you saw a collingwood mid regularly break from a center bounce and stream forward either delivering a lace out pass or kicking the goal themselves?

Not since Buckley retired have we seen it done on a consistent basis and I'm not saying the player need to be as good as bucks but at least have someone capable of it, J.Thomas in his u/18 days seems the most likely on our list but we all know his injury issues.

Very notable vs Carlton, Hawks and Nth the lack of leg speed now that they can match us physically.

Add in Thomas but he is also very hot and cold.

 

[Didak Wine]

I wonder if they have decided:

-We've done enough to make the top four this year
-last year, with a few weeks to go before the finals, we played with super intensity and Daisy got suspended, so, let's aim for week 1 of finals to have everyone available
-Our depth is being tested so lets try to keep the cattle we have fit and available

Pendles may also be remembering that he's had injuries in previous finals campaigns and so is going into self preservation mode.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

Pendlebury's form is a huge worry. He does not look the same player. He is still racking up possessions but seems a lot less effective. We need him to recapture his pre-injury form to have any chance in the finals.

 

[jmac70]

Penders is too good to be down for long. Back him in to turn it around on Saturday.