Finding an extra yard of pace at 36 years old? It sounds far-fetched, but Scott Pendlebury is still looking for a way to improve as Collingwood goes “all in” on his 20th season.
The Magpies games record holder was experimenting with “a few different things” including speed training as he said he was open to performing any on-field role required in 2025.
Pendlebury hit the track on Monday with most of Collingwood’s list, including recruits Dan Houston and Harry Perryman along with draftees Joel Cochran, Charlie West and Will Hayes.
Powerful midfielder Jordan De Goey returned from his 10-day trip to Qatar with conditioning staff and ran laps at Olympic Park earlier in the day, but did not participate in the team session.
Pendlebury said he was eager to work on his own burst of speed as he enjoyed the chance to enter the pre-season with a clean bill of health.
Surgery on his nose in the previous off-season had prevented him from doing his own training in between the 2023 premiership and the Pies’ pre-season.
“I try to find little things to keep me fresh – new ideas, new challenges. I’ve tried to get quicker – I don’t know if you’ve picked that up today … I thought I might be quicker,” he said with a grin.
“But I’m always trying to add just little bits to my game … the full bill of health and being able to train straight away, you can do some different stuff.”
The Magpies were jumped in the first three weeks of 2024 after entering on the back of their shortest pre-season in years following the flag triumph.
